Paris Olympics 2024: Rugby Sevens gun Ben Dowling goes from Shute Shield to Games

It was a special win years in the making with a bunch of great mates. Now this young Sevens gun is hoping to top the memory with a medal alongside different mates in Paris.

Ben Dowling in action aginst France in the Madrid Seven in May. Picture: AFP

Ben Dowling wasn’t sure he could top the thrill of winning a club rugby championship with his mates at the Randwick rugby club – until he heard his name announced as a member of the Paris Olympic Rugby Seven’s team.

Now he’s got the chance to create more special memories with a tight-knit group of brothers chasing a historic Olympic medal for Australia.

They will open their Olympic competition against Samoa and Kenya at Stade de France on Wednesday.

But the 22-year-old will stay tapped into the action back in Sydney with emails, texts and updates from his Randwick mates in the Shute Shield competition each Saturday while he is away.

“It was the best,” he said of Randwick winning the trophy late last year – its first since 2004 under their new coach Stephen Hoiles. “That was a very special day at Leichhardt Oval.

Ben Dowling scores a try against Great Britain in the Madrid Rugby Sevens in June. Picture: Getty Images

“I’m always keeping my eye of the scores each week when I’m away,’’ Dowling said.

”It’s difficult to compare (with his Sevens success) and such a different group of people but the common factor is I am doing both with good people.’’

An outside back and graduate of the NSW Waratahs junior program, Dowling was a teen sensation in sevens, but he has played both forms since.

Randwick supporters celebrate their team's 2023 Shute Shield grand final win at Leichhardt Oval. Picture: Karen Watson

The mix has seen him represent Australia at the Commonwealth Games and World Sevens series and play for the Junior Wallabies in 2002, the Super Rugby Pacific season in 2023 and then Randwick.

He was part of a team reshape after the Tokyo Olympics and has since gone from strength to strength to earn his spot in Paris alongside six other debutants.

“It would be amazing to add a medal. We have our eye on it,’’ he said.