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By the thousands, Fijian rugby fans flocked to B.C. Place Stadium a year ago. Even at 8 a.m., before the stadium gates opened, there were legions of smiling fans streaming off transit, out of parking lots.

Their time had come. Rugby, on the big stage, had arrived in Vancouver.

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On a World Rugby Sevens Series where all-day big crowds aren’t the norm — the usual habit is games for the home team draw the eyeballs, then the crowds move out to the concourse for rounds of beer, ignoring the other games — the fact there were thousands of fans in the stadium from kickoff on Day 1 of last year’s inaugural Canada Sevens drew notice.

“What are they all doing here?” some shocked World Rugby organizers said aloud.

“Un stade magnifique,” French sevens star Julien Candelon said after last year’s tournament. “You don’t think you are in a foreign country because everybody supports you.”

More often than not, the French don’t draw much crowd reaction other than boos. In Vancouver, like all the teams, they were showered with cheers.