Buwaneka ‘Buwa’ Udangamuwa from the hill capital city of Kandy is a gentle giant with bulldozing pace.
He turns up day in and day out, to make valuable breaks, take down defenders one after the other, making those head crunching tackles and also scoring with his barging runs. His career as a number 8 started in the year 2015 at Kandy Sports Club when the bulky center put his backs’ duties to bed and joined the forwards pack. It was a transformation the big man didn’t want to make and a number 8 jersey he didn’t want to wear.
Since then, Udangamuwa has worn it with pride, never giving it over to anyone else, he’s never looked back. The number 8 jersey has lifted him up into the Sri Lankan team and at the end of the day he’s glad his coach made him take it.
Udangamuwa cherishes his younger days at Dharmaraja College Kandy where he learnt all his rugby as a young kid, the practice sessions and good times which will never come back to him. As a school kid he has the 2010 All-Island sevens, the 2012 B-division, 2013 Singer Schools League Cup under his belt while as a Club player he has won Dialog Rugby League titles, Clifford Cup and the Sevens (2016) titles with Kandy SC. Thus as a player he has been part of teams that have gone on to win multiple titles.
He has by far been the best number 8 and arguably the best forward in the Dialog Club Rugby 2017 first round. Udangamuwa has been an unstoppable force with strong ball carrying abilities and the skill to suck in four to five defenders, leaving Kandy’s lethal backline plenty of gaps to run at and score.
Here are some excepts of a chat we had with him recently.
What got you into professional rugby?
Aravinda Udangamuwa is my brother and he played for Kandy Sports Club. We used to go watch him play and that inspired me to play rugby from the young ages.
How was the support you got from your family?
I got a lot of support from Amma, she was the rock behind me, she helped me in getting all the nutrients and the help I needed to go ahead in Rugby.
What is your most unforgettable memory in rugby?
Being the School League Champions in 2013. We came to A division and no one gave us a chance. Even in the matches when we played, the talk was “just because B division was easy this isn’t easy, come we’ll show you how it’s done.” But we ended up showing them how it was done. We believed that we could do it after the first two matches where we beat Trinity and Isipathana. I will never ever forget that moment where we were on the podium singing our school anthem.
What made you switch from Center to Number 8?
Center to Number 8? The transformation was one that I didn’t want to do, it was Johan Taylor the Kandy coach at the time who made the request to change from Center to number 8. He said I can barge my way through and I have the qualities of a Number 8. But I wasn’t very happy. All my life I wanted to be a center, but now I’m okay with it, I’ve come so far and I still enjoy the rugby I play.
Who is your favorite rugby player?
Maa Nonu, he’s the best center, he is a player who isn’t afraid to go into contact and has a lot of pace which reminds me of me at school and at club before I became a Number 8.
What is your future beyond rugby?
I’d like to be a coach, a forward’s coach maybe but you never know, I am still 23 and have a long way to go in my future so let’s see.
Finally, any words of gratitude?
Firstly, I would like to give my appreciation to my parents, my brother and all my relatives. I would like to thank my junior coaches in Mr. Kasthuriarachchi and Mr. J.B.Herath for teaching me the basics of rugby. My under-16 coach, Nimal Wijesinghe is another name I would like to mention for his guidance, Walter sir and C.S.Ekanayake. And of course everyone at Dharmaraja for helping me get here.
