But he was also probably the first great example of how the powerful rugby countries have misused their position, to the detriment of test teams from smaller nations like Fiji.
Vidiri and Jonah Lomu were the clip-on superstars from Counties Manukau who turned the original Blues Super Rugby outfit into a briefly unstoppable force during the 1990s, as the openly professional age took shape.
Yet in an era when the top players still took part in three tiers of rugby, it is Vidiri's effortless dismantling of Waikato in Counties Manukau's comeback NPC semifinal win of 1997 which lingers strongest in the memory.
Under the different international eligibility rules of that time the Fijian test wing was rushed into the All Blacks, where his career was almost over before it began and totalled just two tests.
Which meant Vidiri was lost to both test rugby and Fiji, not that anyone seemed to really care at the time. Careers and small nation ambitions were that disposable.
World Rugby has only just acknowledged the situation with a rule change, although tough stand-down restrictions remain and attitudes aren't all that different.
I met Vidiri briefly at Pukekohe Stadium one afternoon, as he reclined in a nearby chair while I typed out a match report in the union's office. He exuded a quiet warmth which has been impossible to forget down the years.
If only the superpowers of rugby had treated teams like Fiji, Tonga and Samoa in a similar way.
WINNER ... BUT: Va'aiga Tuigamala
Tuigamala was the second great blockbusting three-quarter to emerge from Auckland and Ponsonby rugby, the first being the one and only Bryan Williams.
Tuigamala - who passed away a day after Vidiri - was box office gold, which is why English rugby union and league clubs snapped him up.
His move to glamour league club Wigan confirmed a premature end to an All Black career in which Tuigamala couldn't truly find his place, although he did play 19 tests.
Tuigamala played in an era where incredibly strong personalities - mainly the legendary Auckland characters - dominated the All Blacks culture in a way that wasn't necessarily about team first.
Maybe, somehow, he didn't truly fit in. Or maybe he just couldn't get enough defects out of his game. Or maybe a bit of both.
Va'aiga Tuigamala in 2000. Photo / Photosport
He was a lovely man, and on enlisting Tuigamala to write a column for the New Zealand Herald, 'Inga' asked if I would like to spend a day with him as he discharged his various duties as the owner of a funeral business. Invitation accepted.
After a busy morning we were heading towards a cup of tea and a chat.
But our little convoy came to halt as we approached Western Springs. The boss was needed elsewhere to oversee the removal of a severely obese body from a house.
This is how this business goes, he told me, and roared off.
What he did have time to make clear that day though was his family's first sporting love - boxing.
Great footballers come from all walks of life. But it felt as if he wanted to emphasise that rugby was not a game which was ever going to dominate his life.
And with hindsight his unique aura became a signpost for Auckland rugby, of incredible promise lost, of careers which threaten to take off but never quite reach the stars, of great people who come and go.
WINNERS: The Russians
Alex Ovechkin. Photo / AP
Hats off to star Russian sports people like hockey's Alex Ovechkin and world top 10 tennis player Andrey Rublev who have made pleas for peace, as their country's despicable leader wages war against Ukraine.
Sport usually feels corporatised to a point that its soul has been sucked away.
Then you are reminded of sport's power and the courage and perception of superstars when they advocate for desperately needed change, particularly in America.
Not to mention the importance of the imagery, when you consider Rublev won a doubles title with Ukraine's Denys Molchanov just last week.
WINNER: A Super Rugby thriller ... BUT
Pity about the neutral and sterile venue, but the Hurricanes' comeback win over the Blues was special. This game deserved a packed house.
