“I’m Not Going to Be This Fast Forever”: Edward Sigauke’s Journey from Cricket Scholarship to Zimbabwe’s Nations Cup Weapon
From a reluctant rugby player to one of Zimbabwe’s key weapons, Edward Sigauke has embraced his rise and responsibility. After helping the Sables qualify for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, the 22-year-old winger is ready to make his mark as Zimbabwe battles for Nations Cup success.
DENVER, Colorado – If there’s anything that moves faster than Edward Sigauke, it has to be the pace of his own progress over the past few years.
Only six years ago, rugby wasn’t Sigauke’s favourite sport. He simply wasn’t interested, despite being “pretty decent at it.”
It wasn’t even cricket, the sport that first opened doors for him.
Six years later, Sigauke has been an African champion in rugby three times with Zimbabwe – once at junior level and twice with the senior Sables side.
He has helped his country qualify for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, a feat last achieved by the Sables 13 years before he was even born. Edward has quickly transformed himself into one of Zimbabwe’s most important players.
It’s a meteoric rise to stardom for the 22-year-old Sables winger, who arrived at his first high school in 2017 on a cricket scholarship, an opportunity that changed everything for him.
“I was at Hillcrest College from Form One to Four, and those were my best high school days,” Sigauke tells Rugby Africa Media.
“Mr Rajah, the first-team cricket coach, got me down to Mutare after watching me play at a primary schools cricket tournament. I played everything growing up – swimming, athletics, hockey, football, basketball, you name it. It’s also because the schools I went to were really small, so the selection pool for sports was small as well. We sort of had to play everything, which I loved.
“I actually didn’t want to play rugby until maybe when I was 16. I had played rugby since Grade Three in primary school. I knew I was pretty decent at it, but I always enjoyed hockey and athletics a little more.”
Hillcrest College, established in 1985, is the premier private school in Mutare, Zimbabwe’s third-largest city.
Douglas Rajah, the cricket coach, remembers how he spotted Sigauke during Hillcrest’s talent scouting trip to Zimbabwe’s Lowveld region, an agro-business hub of the country known for its vast sugar plantations. The local Hippo Valley Estates Primary School and Murray MacDougall School have a proud sporting heritage spanning many decades. Sigauke, a diminutive batsman and leg-spin bowler for Hippo Valley Estates, caught the eye.
“They were hosting a cricket festival for the south-eastern primary schools and there was this young man. He was one meticulous, patient batsman who got behind the ball,” says Rajah.
“He had this energy and natural vibe in terms of his leadership drive within the team. He was batting, knocking the ball around, taking the ones and twos. What stood out for me was his decision-making and his shot selection.
“At that age, there is always that naivety to want to be pompous and smash the ball all over the place. But Eddie wasn’t like that, he was different. He had a good head on his shoulders, he showed maturity, and he was the captain of the team.
“He had this brilliant innings, I think 35, 50 not out. And I approached him and I said, ‘You know, there is something about your aura, this natural energy around you that says you’re the future of Hillcrest’. There was just a lot of potential for him to develop into a phenomenal athlete.”
Incidentally, apart from cricket, Rajah was also Hillcrest’s Under-16 rugby coach. His eye for talent didn’t desert him.
“When I saw Eddie on the athletics track, that was the turning point,” Rajah recalls.
“When I saw him in the 200 metres and 400 metres, this boy here was quick off the blocks. I just said that’s the future of rugby, he’s a rugby player.
“When he did the high jump, I saw the power in his legs; there was potential to grow. I said let’s throw this man into the deep end, let’s take him to rugby, and he responded so well.
“I could see him at fullback, but, you know, back then, because of his smaller physique, I was drawn to put him in the centre. That was the X-factor Eddie brought.”
Sigauke’s versatility cuts across different sports, into the classroom, as well as the way he carries himself.
“He was an all-rounder, he’s a strong individual even in academics,” says Rajah.
“He gave us the full package. He was in the ‘A’ class, 1A1. In terms of his discipline, true to his character, when Eddie sets his mind on anything, he works towards that. He’s goal-oriented. He’s a winner, he’s somebody who never backs down from a challenge.
“Despite his height, he makes it up in terms of tenacity, that zeal to achieve.
“And I just want to make it clear that I do not take credit for helping Eddie find himself in rugby. He had a calling from God, and God said to him, ‘You know, you could do anything’.
“I was just a vessel that God used to get Eddie to channel his energy towards doing well in rugby. I just want to say I feel honoured that he still remembers my contribution to him, as small as it may be.”
Among Sigauke’s rugby teammates at Hillcrest happened to be loose forward Shingi Manyarara, a local Mutare lad who’s now making waves in France at Top 14 club Racing 92. With rugby now Sigauke’s chief sport, a change in environment became necessary.
Crispen Mhike, the then first-team rugby coach and deputy headmaster of Hillcrest who was moving back to Harare to head the Heritage School, looks back at that period.
“He wanted to come to the Heritage School for his ‘A’ levels, probably because I’d been a father figure to most of the boys at Hillcrest,” says Mhike.
“But I said, ‘Look, with the way you’re talented, I think it’s best you go to a bigger school’. So he went to Lomagundi College on a rugby scholarship.
“Shingi Manyarara moved to South Africa at Kingswood College. But just imagine the Hillcrest team that we could have had if I had stayed, if Manyarara had stayed, if Sigauke had stayed, if Ryan Musumhi had stayed, if Tavonga Ablant had stayed.
“Then there was Makanakaishe Charamba, who was a couple of years older than them. Maka reached the final of the 200 metres race at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. You can imagine the speed; Charamba, Ablant, Sigauke – it would have been an incredibly good side. I’m sure they would have beaten anyone in Zimbabwe.”
Lomagundi College in Chinhoyi, 116km northwest of Harare, is one of Zimbabwe’s leading independent schools. Sigauke blossomed under the school’s first-team coach, Bob Mahari. He was barely out of high school when he was selected for Zimbabwe’s Under-20 team for the Barthes Trophy, Africa’s premier youth competition.
Head coach Shaun De Souza guided the Junior Sables to the 2023 title in Kenya, as he had done the year before in 2022. Sigauke is tremendously thankful to both coaches, Mahari and De Souza.
“Those two years of my life at Lomagundi really cemented who I am today as a rugby player,” says Sigauke.
“Coach Bob treated me like a son, and I’ll always be indebted to him because of what he’s done for me and several other young men. I fell in love with the game even more. “As for coach Shaun, any athlete will tell you that winning consistently is what gives us life, and that 2023 Junior Sables team knew how to win.
“We really enjoyed playing together and the camaraderie off the field showed when we played. Coach Shaun gave us a platform to express ourselves and grow as players.”
Sigauke’s lightning acceleration and delightful side-steps, effective weapons of his, were on full display again at the weekend in Zimbabwe’s courageous performance during the 36-26 defeat to Tonga in their World Cup Nations opener at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Denver.
The Sables tearaway was involved in two of the African team’s four tries, scoring one and creating another for flanker Tino Mavesere.
While pace is definitely part of his armoury, Sigauke is always working on becoming a more complete rugby player. “I’m aware that I’m not going to be this fast forever, which means I have to hammer on other aspects of the game to make sure I become all-rounded,” he says.
“I love the idea of being a beginner all over again, so it’s not a train smash. So yeah, for the longest, I’ve usually been the fastest player on the field, which is a responsibility I take very seriously!” For somebody who didn’t like rugby just six years ago, it’s amazing that one can’t really regard Sigauke now as a late bloomer, because he’s still only 22.
He has also had to balance all of that with university education, studying at Varsity College in Johannesburg, South Africa. And Sigauke the showman – they call him Transporter because of his blistering pace – hasn’t forgotten his duty as an entertainer. He has built quite a fan base in South Africa after becoming a key player in Varsity College’s promotion to the first-tier Varsity Cup from the second league, the Varsity Shield.
“It’s very different to international rugby, or age-group rugby,” he says. “It was a new challenge for me that I embraced. Making new mates that I enjoy playing the game with was probably the main thing for me.
“It’s also an opportunity to get ready for Test matches that come up later in the year.”
Zimbabwe Squad
Forwards: Victor Mupunga, Tjde Visser, Simba Mandioma, Liam Larkan, Bryan Chiang, Cleopas Kundiona, Farai Mudariki, Michael Kumbirai, Gary Porter, Tadiwanashe Gwashu, Kudakwashe Nyakufaringwa, Tinotenda Mavesere, Dylan Utete, Godfrey Muzanargwo, Simbarashe Siraha, Jason Fraser, Aiden Burnett, Bornwell Gwinji.
Backs: Tyrone Gombe, Hilton Mudariki, Keegan Joubert, Ian Prior, Bruce Houston, Edward Sigauke, Kudzai Mashawi, Brandon Mudzekenyedzi, Dion Khumalo, Trevor Gurwe, Matthew McNab, Tapiwa Mafura.
Non-travelling reserves: Takudzwa Musingwini, Tatenda Kumubvumbi, Jason Robertson.
More information: Click Here
Where to watch?
Rugby Pass TV: https://rugbypass.tv/home
Saturday 4 July 2026 (GMT)
- 22:15 – Tonga (36) vs Zimbabwe (26)
Saturday 11 July 2026 (GMT)
- 23:30 – USA vs Zimbabwe
Sunday 19 July 2026 (GMT)
- 00:00 – Canada vs Zimbabwe
Written by Enock Muchinjo
