Rabeni, who played 11 games for the Highlanders in 2003-04, died this week in Fiji, from a suspected heart attack.
He was 37.
Rabeni played for the Highlanders in 2003-04, mostly on the wing, although in his second season he moved to the midfield.
He played two games for Otago in 2004.
He left the South after 2004 and moved to Leicester but a serious knee injury rather scuttled his career with the English powerhouse and he moved on to the Worcester club.
He then played in France and started a coaching career in the United States and then Hong Kong.
He had initially moved to Dunedin to study at the University of Otago but then became involved with professional rugby, and ended up going round the world with the game.
Former Highlanders coach Greg Cooper said Rabeni was a very good player.
"He had a lot of natural ability, a player who always seemed to have a lot of time and space,'' Cooper said.
"He was a guy who played what was in front of him, an instinctive sort of player who reacted quickly to what was happening.
"As a person I remembered him always being happy. Always with a smile on his face. Just a fantastic bloke.''
Cooper said as Rabeni's career developed overseas, he would have learnt the discipline of being a player, which would have added to his abilities.
Cooper said it was a shock to hear of his death a such a young age.
Former Otago manager Des Smith said Rabeni was a nice guy who enjoyed his time in the south.
"We had a lot of good players around at that time and he really enjoyed being with them,'' Smith said.
Rabeni died in Nakasi of a suspected heart attack. Rabeni's father-in-law, Viliame Kanatabua, confirmed to the Fiji Times that Rabeni had recently recovered from a lengthy illness.
Rabeni played 30 tests for Fiji, and figured in the 2003 and 2007 World Cups.
His wife Naome Rabeni told the newspaper she was teaching class at the Rara District School in Naluwai when she was told her husband had collapsed while having breakfast with his brothers.
Rabeni had been living at their home in Verata Wailevu, on the outskirts of Nausori, looking after their home and business. She said he had seemed healthy.
The family, including their sons, 4 and 7, had been together last week and Rabeni insisted they all have lunch on the weekend before taking Naome and the boys home.
"It was that one time that I really missed him, as if he was going overseas. He said goodbye to the boys and to me before he left,'' she said.
"I sat at the porch quite longer that evening, missing him.''
