Va'aiga Tuigamala & Joeli Vidiri
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@steven-harris yeah I saw it on the blues FB page
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holy fuck, today sucks more now!
Joeli, was up there as one of the finest in the game, and for a period, was almost peerless, sadly alot of that time he was in the international doldrums and didnt get to show his wares properly in Black.
RIP Joeli!
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@mariner4life said in Va'aiga Tuigamala & Joeli Vidiri:
great player
by all accounts a great bloke too.
i watched a lot of Wigan in the mid-90s too so Inga had a place in my heart from there as much as Black
52 is no age. (and far too close to me for my liking)
Younger than me. Mind you, I had my heart attack at 49.
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@booboo said in Va'aiga Tuigamala & Joeli Vidiri:
@mariner4life said in Va'aiga Tuigamala & Joeli Vidiri:
great player
by all accounts a great bloke too.
i watched a lot of Wigan in the mid-90s too so Inga had a place in my heart from there as much as Black
52 is no age. (and far too close to me for my liking)
Younger than me. Mind you, I had my heart attack at 49.
Did you have it just after someone else also had it?
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@donsteppa said in Va'aiga Tuigamala & Joeli Vidiri:
@canefan said in Va'aiga Tuigamala:
@mariner4life said in Va'aiga Tuigamala:
great player
by all accounts a great bloke too.
i watched a lot of Wigan in the mid-90s too so Inga had a place in my heart from there as much as Black
52 is no age. (and far too close to me for my liking)
Sounds like he had let himself go physically. A shame Ted didn't rope him into that Match Fit TV show
He'd dropped 30kgs plus as of December (https://www.facebook.com/brownbuttabean/posts/444364063725615) so he was back on the right track as of late.
Any of the recent All Blacks we've lost all hit hard, but there's something particularly sad about losing Inga. As has been mentioned, he was the first antithesis to Terry Wright that I can remember watching play the game. A bit scary to remember how long ago the 1991 RWC is now.
An absolutely top bloke too. Jason Robinson was one of the first to tweet the news, and had this to say in 2015: Jason Robinson thanks Inga Tuigamala for saving him
- Losing the weight unfortunately won't get rid of the blockages in the arteries.
- Definitely hard. Is the first of those I had the good fortune to play against.
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@mariner4life said in Va'aiga Tuigamala & Joeli Vidiri:
@booboo said in Va'aiga Tuigamala & Joeli Vidiri:
@mariner4life said in Va'aiga Tuigamala & Joeli Vidiri:
great player
by all accounts a great bloke too.
i watched a lot of Wigan in the mid-90s too so Inga had a place in my heart from there as much as Black
52 is no age. (and far too close to me for my liking)
Younger than me. Mind you, I had my heart attack at 49.
Did you have it just after someone else also had it?
Yeah, comes across a bit me, me, me doesn't it (and my next post).
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Vidiri was an absolute freak at his best. Huge, fast as fuck, immensely powerful and amazingly skilled.
Jeff Wilson was interviewed and said in AB sprint tests he was quicker than himself, Cullen and Jonah. I wished he had a longer more successful AB career, if only he’d played in 1996 instead of having to stand down, he was incredible for the Blues during that period.
RIP big fella, thanks for lighting up Super Rugby like you did.
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wow just seen this, what a terrible couple of days for two incredible wingers, both will be sadly missed, not just for their skills but the way they played the game. shit. sad.
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@kirwan said in Va'aiga Tuigamala & Joeli Vidiri:
This is a sad time, so many of these rugby players I idolised growing up are gone too soon.
Took the words out of my mouth.
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@booboo said in Va'aiga Tuigamala & Joeli Vidiri:
@mariner4life said in Va'aiga Tuigamala & Joeli Vidiri:
@booboo said in Va'aiga Tuigamala & Joeli Vidiri:
@mariner4life said in Va'aiga Tuigamala & Joeli Vidiri:
great player
by all accounts a great bloke too.
i watched a lot of Wigan in the mid-90s too so Inga had a place in my heart from there as much as Black
52 is no age. (and far too close to me for my liking)
Younger than me. Mind you, I had my heart attack at 49.
Did you have it just after someone else also had it?
Yeah, comes across a bit me, me, me doesn't it (and my next post).
But I suppose it's only natural to share how it affects yourself and compare circumstances, ages etc.
Doesn't make you any less sad for the loss or the family .
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Jonah and Joeli WERE Super Rugby when it was kicking off. Must watch TV.
Joeli sat out his prime international years and world Rugby was poorer for it.
Will always remember him in a counties jersey tearing up Waikato.
This is all very sad.
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@donsteppa said in Va'aiga Tuigamala & Joeli Vidiri:
@canefan said in Va'aiga Tuigamala:
@mariner4life said in Va'aiga Tuigamala:
great player
by all accounts a great bloke too.
i watched a lot of Wigan in the mid-90s too so Inga had a place in my heart from there as much as Black
52 is no age. (and far too close to me for my liking)
True. He sort of set the stage for Jonah and other big hard outside backs. I remember many times yelling Inga the Winga in celebration RIP
Vidiri also was massive and a guy I would have always picked in my team.
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Arohanui to the families and friends of Inga and Joeli.
Joeli was one of my favourite players and I had the privilege to meet the man after a Blues v NSW game in the late 90s. He was actually a lot taller than I expected from watching him on the box. Even though he was a decent unit, his game was different to Inga and Jonah’s. He almost made it look too easy when he ran. Basically a 90s version of at peak Caucau.
Inga to me was all power.
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