Australia’s Men’s Rugby Sevens side will be some of the very first athletes to compete at this year’s Olympic Games, with the Aussies opening match against Samoa set to kick off at 11:30pm (Sydney time) on Wednesday, just half an hour after the start of the very first event.

Australia play Samoa, Kenya and World Champions Argentina in the pool stages, with our women’s side facing South Africa, Great Britain and Ireland from Monday morning onwards.

The Olympics and Paris’ State de France might seem a long way from the Shute Shield.

But that’s exactly where most of Australia’s mens team and a handful of our women’s side were playing not that long ago.

Here are a few to keep an eye on in Paris.

Henry Hutchison - Randwick

After playing Australian Schoolboys, Hutchison joined Randwick in 2014 and was signed by the Aussie 7s a year later. He's returned to the Galloping Greens over the years before focussing his attention on the short-form of the game after a stint in Super Rugby.

Ben Dowling - Randwick

Dowling started at fullback in last year's grand final winning Randwick side after spending 2023 in the XV man game with the Waratahs. He returned to Sevens this year and has made every post a winner since.