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AFTER a short career as a rugby player, where he captained Mt Pleasant High School first team, Talent Edward Gandiwa, has since shifted focus to refereeing.
A qualified accountant, by profession, Gandiwa, who turns 31 next week, has seen it all in the sport, as he was also a coach at Marlborough High School.
His dream now is to officiate as a World Rugby Test Refer Talent.
Gandiwa, who horned his coaching skills at Mt Pleasant and Marlborough High schools, realised that to be an effective coach, he needed to know his rugby laws.
And, he started refereeing rugby at lower grades, mainly in the Harare Schools Girls League.
In 2016, he joined the Mashonaland Rugby Referees Society, a branch of the Zimbabwe Rugby Referees Society, based in Harare.
From there, he never looked back.
He quickly progressed through the ranks, going for his first international tour in March 2016, as a novice referee, for the Walvis Bay Desert Schools Rugby Festival in Namibia.
He is currently a World Rugby Level Two Referee.
His debut international game was in Zambia, between Zambia and Botswana, for the Rugby Africa Silver Cup in 2018.
He officiated as an assistant referee at the HSBC Cape Town Sevens in 2019.
Gandiwa was also at the South Africa Craven and Academy Week 2019, and the prestigious Portugal Youth Rugby Festival 2019, as well as the Super Six League Final in 2019.
He has won several awards such as the Junior Referee of the Year 2016, Most Improved Referee of the Year 2017, Zimbabwe Referee of the Year 2018, Harare Province Referee of the Year 2019 and the Mashonaland Referee of the Year 2019.
Online Reporter