In his final game for the Danish national team Henrik Mollgaard received his tribute in Kolding where he began his long and impressive career as a young talent on the local league team.
Mollgaard had claimed he would have preferred to be free of all the attention but the EHF Euro Cup, a test tournament for those nations already qualified for the European champioships, provided an opportunity to give him a 230th and final appearance in red and white.
Mollgaard started the match on the bench, where he had the pleasure of seeing his teammates take a 9-4 lead.
Marinus Munk, who started in just his second international match, scored three goals in an uplifting Danish opening to the match.
However, France worked their way back into the match, and led by Dika Mem, the away team tied the game at 12-12.
Denmark managed to put themselves ahead 17-16 before the break, when winger Magnus Landin scored from an acute angle.
In the second half, the Danes again the had the brightest start and took a 21-18 lead.
But France had no intention of giving Mollgaard a win in his swansong and levelled the match at 21-21 before taking a 25-23 lead.
Mathias Gidsel then scored his tenth goal of the game when he made it 35-35 four minutes from time.
Three minutes from the end , national team coach Nikolaj Jacobsen then took a timeout where nothing was said but instead the home crowd gave Mollgaard a proper send-off and praised him for his efforts.
France almost immediately after took a two-goal lead wich Denmark never recovered from and France thereby restored a bit of morale after crashing out early in the Olympic tournament which was won by Denmark.