Built like iron and running like the wind Anuruddha Wilwara, Sri Lanka 7s rugby sensation has hit phenomenal form of recent. ThePapare.com cornered him for a chit-chat on this latest escalation.
Even as a young schoolboy who made his way from Vidyartha College Kandy to S Thomas Mt Lavinia, Wilwara was muscled like led and his sprints were a sight to watch. One newspaper hailed him as the ‘sprinting mighty atom’ when Anurudda Wilwara took the school seasons of 2009 and 2010 by storm.
Wilwara was born in Kandy and studied at Vidyartha College and then moved on to S Thomas College Mt. Lavinia after the ordinary level examinations. He explained in his conversation with ThePapare.com that it was his cousin Nuwan Rathnayake who was playing for Dharmaraja College at the time who asked him to start playing rugby. Thus his rugby commenced at under 13 level and as his performances continued to grow “Asanga Seneviratne took me to S Thomas and he was very helpful and I would like to render my sincere gratitude to him”said Wilwara. I also thank Piyal Navarathne who was my under 17 coach who comprehended my talent and gave me a chance to lift my rugby career.
Wilwara was in to athletics as he was a fast runner, he won many awards in athletics in particular 100m and 200m inter school, district and zonal events. Furthermore, he was in to boxing during the time at Vidyartha as the school always produced great boxers but in end Rugby became his game and even though he struggled to find a place in the U 13 and 15 sides, he finally sealed a place in U 17 Vidyartha side.
He played as an outside centre for S Thomas College and was astounding. He made a name for himself and wore the national under 20 shirt in order to tour the Asiad in 2009 and 2010. Unfortunately thereafter he missed domestic rugby for two consecutive seasons after being injured in 2011.
His dream came true when he was called for the Tuskers 7’s where he was thrilled to play under the captaincy of legendary Radika Hettiarachi in Borneo 7’s. Moreover, Willy went on to becoming one of the three quarters in his debut club rugby season, playing for Kandy club in 2011.
Probably the most worrying time of his life was when he was down with the groin injury followed by the ankle injury soon after the season in 2011 where as a result he had to wait a year long period to recover. “I was so gutted to miss out and took me a hell of a lot work to overcome from my injury, I went to Anuradhapura to do Sinhala medication several times which helped me to give good results. Looking at the other players perform I felt I could have done the same but I waited so patiently and I am happy looking at the recent performances.” Willy did not fail to thank Mr Malik Samarawickrama of Kandy Sports Club for all assistance given during the healing process.
Wilwara faced another setback in the field in 2012 when yet again he was plagued with injury and had to sit out. Nevertheless, he refused to give up and continued to maintain his fitness and work out in the gym, conditioning. “I wanted to play in my position as outside centre but to be honest I didn’t have a place in the Kandy line as Gayan Weerarathne and Pradeep Liyanage who are a well experienced duo was at 12 & 13. So I was asked to play in the wing and in the end it did not affect me at all as I was quickly gelled to my new position.”
It is always tough to maintain fitness when a player is out injured and ThePapare questioned him as to how he kept himself strong mentally. Willy’s answer to that was “I use to go to the Gym quite a lot during recovery period and I had a vision and a plan with my routine. I surpassed the obstacles after all. It is all about a ‘can do attitude’. Even after recovery Neil Foote also advised me to improve my fitness and speed during the time he was in charge of Kandy sports club. I always came early for practices and did all my speed drills and fitness alone to make sure I am working to my vision.”
Commencing from the Mercantile 7’s in the month of May 2014, where he was a scathing performer who deservingly won the player of the tournament, his running was as fast as it was furious and he was almost intangible to the opposition. He carried out this form in to the Carlton 7’s local segment where he captained the joint champion side North Central Typhoons. He was in the leading try scorers list and was extraordinary. The national selectors immediately drafted him in to the side which saw Wilwara touring with the Tuskers 7’s team to Glasgow, where Sri Lanka became the shield champions in the Commonwealth games 2014.
Willy was hailed by another ‘Willi’ that was ‘William Lose’ the former Tongan international captain who is now an international rugby commentator for IRB 7’s circuit. Commentating during the Carlton Super 7s he heaped a lot of praise on Wilwara’s speed, stamina and strength.
Certainly 2014 has been Anurudda Wilwara’s year so far. It is not only about his fast running, his defending has also been quite impressive. When we quizzed him on his defensive play he said “playing in Carlton 7’s gave not only me but many others the confidence to tackle big players. So after playing in an event of that magnitude I gained loads of experience and mental strength to play in the big stage.”
During the Asian 7’s series first leg in Hong Kong Willy was the second highest try scorer with 07 tries. The inclusion of Fijian blood Waqavulagi Emori in the team made doubt on his place as he did not play too long in the day one of the second leg last week in Malaysia. However he also spoke about a sore toe after playing in Hong Kong’s astro turf.
The commentary during the Asian 7s brought up the question whether the inclusion of foreigners in Asian teams and if it would ruin the local talents like Wilwara? Almost on cue Willy dished out a superlative performance on day two where Sri Lanka went down on a close fight with Hong Kong (10-7)in the semifinal match.
This dynamic young player wants to continue his form and make even better in the coming years and hopes one day that he may have the honour of captaining his country.
Willy is also working for the MAS in the Human Resource field, he has currently paused his final two years of his HRM degree due to the rugby commitment and he hopes will obtain his degree one day and to be part of high managerial level at work with the experience after rugby career.
Willy talks much about the support he received from his family and on his general likes and dislikes he says he dislikes people who don’t respect others and likes down to earth people.
Idolizing the Irish legend Brian O’Driscoll, Willy states he is an impish player who is fast and has power and is a glorious stepper. He also follows William Rider (Fiji), Ma Noonu (NZ), and Quade Cooper (Aus).
To young and upcoming players he says work hard for your goals it might take long time but somehow it will be achieved -never give up
ThePapare.com would like to thank Anurudda Wilwara for taking his time and sharing his experience and wish him all the very best on his future endeavor.
