Nathan Lawson

Nathan Lawson debuted for Australia at the Tokyo Olympics and hasn’t looked back. The Newington College product was born in Carinbah and first played the sport for his local team Burraneer Rugby Club.

Alongside playing fifteen a side, he would also progress through the New South Wales sevens pathways. In 2017, Nathan played at the national championships for New South Wales Under 17s, winning the competition.

Nathan, a loose forward, first represented Australia at U20s level in 2019. He was a part of the squad that created history, winning the Oceania Rugby Championship for the first time with a 24-0 win over New Zealand in the final.

Nathan opted to stay close to home after progressing to senior rugby, joining the Shute Shield team Southern Districts. He played in 26 matches across the 2019 and 2020 seasons, scoring 75 points.
In June of 2021, Nathan travelled to Townsville to play in the Oceania Sevens championship.

However, rather than representing Australia, he would play for the Oceania Barbarians, a team comprised of players from various domestic teams. The team went winless in the competition against sevens juggernauts Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. Nathan however was a standout.

Later that year he joined several other Sydney based players in providing opposition for the Australian men's team who were preparing for the Tokyo Games. Then Australian coach Tim Walsh was immediately impressed by Nathan, so much so that he called him into the squad when Henry Patterson went down with injury.

In Nathan’s Olympic debut Australia came in the seventh place playoff game against Canada, which Australia won 26-7.

With the men's team turning their eye to the future, Nathan became a mainstay in the team over the following years. He played in Australia’s first ever world series win in the 2021-22 season as well as representing Australia at the Commonwealth Games where they would finish in fourth position.

The highlight of Nathan’s career so far came at the Hong Kong Sevens in late 2022. With Australia down two points to Fiji, Nathan scored a crucial try with the last play of the game. The shock 20-17 win granted the side their first Hong Kong sevens title in 34 years.

Nathan has solidified a spot on the national team in 2023 and 2024.

At Paris 2024 Nathan played a part in the men's rugby sevens team's best-ever finish at an Olympic Games.

After going undefeated against Samoa (21-14), Kenya (21-7) and Argentina (22-14) in the pool stage they booked a spot in the semi-finals with an 18-0 shutout of the USA. The Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Fiji side awaited in the quarter-finals, where the Aussie's run was halted with a 7-31 loss.

There was another chance at a medal in the battle for bronze against South Africa hours later, with South Africa winning 26-19 to put Australia in fourth place.