Rugby World pays tribute to Seru Rabeni

Rugby World pays tribute to Seru Rabeni

By Vijay Narayan and Semi Turaga
16/03/2016
The late Seru Rabeni when he represented the country in the Rugby World Cup

The rugby world is paying tribute to former Highlanders, Leicester Tigers and Fiji sevens and 15s star Seru Rabeni, who passed away at the age of 37.

Rabeni died while having breakfast at his home yesterday.

It is believed he had a heart attack.

He had recently recovered from an illness.

His former Highlanders teammate, 16‑test All Black Nick Evans was among a host of rugby players around the globe to share their condolences on Twitter.

Australia winger Lote Tuqiri, Craig Newby, Johnny Wilkinson and other great rugby players have shared their condolences as well.

Rabeni’s father-in-law Viliame Kanatabua said Rabeni was sick for a while and had just recently recovered.

He is survived by his wife and two children aged 7 and 4 years.

Rabeni represented the country in the 2003 and 2007 Rugby World Cup tournaments.

He made his 7s debut in Dubai in 1998, playing in two Hong Kong 7s tournaments.

Rabeni also played for Fiji in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

Rabeni grew up in Bua and played rugby union from his early schooldays at Ratu Kadavulevu School.

He first played provincial rugby for Lautoka from 1998 to 1999 while studying at Lautoka Teachers College, before moving to Suva in 2000.

He played at both U21 and U23 level for Fiji before making his test debut in May 2000 against Japan in Tokyo during the Epson Cup tournament.

In 2001, Rabeni took up a three‑year degree course at the University of Otago, and the following year played 7 games for Otago in the National Provincial Championship before gaining a Super 12 contract with the Otago Highlanders.

He played a dozen games over the 2003 and 2004 Super Rugby season.

Rabeni also played for the Leicester Tigers.

 

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