Former All Blacks winger and Auckland Blues superstar Joeli Vidiri has died, just hours after the news of the passing of another famous wing, Va’aiga Tuigamala.
Vidiri, the former New Zealand and Fiji international, was 48.
“With heavy hearts we announce the passing of Joeli Vidiri,” the Blues posted to social media.
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The news was announced to Sky Sport during the half-time break in the Super Rugby Pacific match between the Crusaders and Dunedin – and followed a poignant tribute to Tuigamala before kick-off.
Crusaders coach Scott Robertson was shocked at the news of Vidiri’s death.
“It’s taken me back a bit,” Robertson said on the Stan coverage.
“I played with Joeli with the All Blacks and we roomed a couple of times, so I got to know him on that front. That’s sad. Condolences to his family. That’s two good men taken.”
With his lethal combination of speed, power, size and strength, Vidiri often made opposition wings look like boys trying to tackle men in the early days of the Super Rugby competition.
Vidiri, who played two Tests for the All Blacks and represented Fiji seven times, endured a 14-year wait for a kidney donor before finally undergoing transplant surgery in 2016.
Vidiri, who formed one of the most lethal winger combinations in rugby history with the late Jonah Lomu when the pair turned out together for Counties Manukau and the Blues, played 62 games for Auckland.
Lomu and Vidiri, who were close friends, battled similar kidney diseases.
The Fiji-born Vidiri debuted for the All Blacks in 1998 – when he ran onto his beloved Eden Park as a replacement for Lomu against England – and collected a Commonwealth Games gold medal with the New Zealand sevens team in Kuala Lumpur later that year.
He was one of the Blues’ originals – a key member of the team that won the inaugural Super Rugby Championship in 1996.
Vidiri was there again, scoring brilliant tries in 1997, when the Blues defended their title.
He scored 43 tries in the Blues jersey.
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Vidiri’s connection with Pukekohe and Counties-Manukau rugby was born out of representing Fiji at the Hong Kong Sevens in 1994.
https://twitter.com/BluesRugbyTeam/status/1497100701683822599
There he met Lomu for the first time and sevens legend Eric Rush, and before long he was on his way to Pukekohe.
“To come over in 1994 and join Counties and Pukekohe rugby club, it was a new chapter in my life and it was a mind-blowing experience for me,” Vidiri told Stuff in 2016.
“When I played my first game for Pukekohe it was different from home. Back home the weather was great, it was hot and the ground was hard and dusty. Here, for my first game it was wet, cold, the ground was muddy … but I really enjoyed it.”
In 2018, Vidiri returned to Fiji to launch a rugby program, Sport for Health, aimed at improving the health of young people in the island nation.
“RIL (rest in love) to a legend of the game,” the Chiefs posted to social media.
“The Chiefs rugby club is sending our thoughts and love to his family, friends, Counties Manukau rugby, Auckland Rugby, the Blues and the wider rugby community.”
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