Precious Pazani from Zimbabwe will become the first referee from Africa (outside South Africa) to officiate at the 2025 Women’s Six Nation that kicks off on March 22, 2025.

She has been allocated two matches. The first one is England v Italy on March 23 at LNER Community Stadium, where Pazani will be the center referee assisted  by Natarsha Ganley (New Zealand) and Jess Ling (Australia). 

She will be the first assistant referee in the match between Italy and Ireland at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma on March 30 March, 2025. The other assistant referee for this match is Shanda Assmus (Canada) with Ganley at the center. Also making their debuts are Ella Goldsmith (Australia) and Holly Wood (England). 

Assistant referees on their first assignment at the Women’s Six Nations include Assmus, Ling, Amelia Luciano (USA) and Zoe Naude (South Africa).

The teams in the competition are England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.

Last assignment

Pazani’s last assignment was at the Rugby Africa Repechage Pool A match between Tunisia and Zambia in Monastir, Tunisia on December 22. The former Zimbabwe basketball and rugby sevens international made her test debut on June 22, 2019 when she officiated the Kenya v Uganda match. 

Pazani who has officiated in all Rugby Africa’s top tournaments is a versatile referee who easily switches between sevens, 15’s, age-grade, and senior international rugby matches. In Cape Town in December 2022, she became the first Zimbabwean to officiate on the women’s World Rugby Sevens Series. 

Trailblazer

The Zimbabwean trailblazer  who was introduced to refereeing by her friend Abigail Kawoza ran touch in the France v Italy match in Grenoble in March 2022 and was involved in the tournament again the following year. 

The Harare-born-and-raised official made more history in 2023 when she became the first female official to referee at a men’s World Rugby U20 Trophy alongside USA’s Kat Roche. And then, in September that year, Pazani was on the refereeing panel for the inaugural WXV 2 tournament in South Africa.

TOURNAMENTS AS A REFEREE:

WXV 2: 2023, 2024
Rugby Africa Women’s Cup: 2019, 2023
Rugby Africa Men’s Cup: 2021, 2022, 2024
Victoria Cup: 2019
World Rugby U20 Trophy: 2023
U20 Barthés Trophy: 2022

Women’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2023
Women’s World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series: 2022, 2023, 2024