Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen has slammed All Blacks lock Tupou Vaa’i for his excessive celebrations against the Springboks at Eden Park.
Pietersen, who was born and raised in South Africa and supports the Springboks, has labelled the second-rower as an ’embarrassment’ to rugby after the lock was shown celebrating turnovers during the Round Three Rugby Championship fixture.
Celebrating like you’ve won the World Cup
A controversial figure during his cricketing career, the former batsman has never been shy to hit the headlines, and that remains the case as he added that he hopes Scott Robertson has ‘the balls’ to stamp out Vaa’i’s behaviour.
“I hope the All Blacks had their review of yesterday’s Test and the coach explained to their number 5, that celebrating a turnover like you’ve won the World Cup is embarrassing!” Pietersen wrote on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday.
“Leave that to other teams……..”
He has since doubled down on his take, posting a screenshot of an article headline that read “Embarrassing: Ex England cricket captain takes aim at All Blacks lock”.
“Good! He was an embarrassment to All Blacks rugby, which is built on respect and tradition,” Pietersen wrote.
“Celebrating turnovers like you’ve won the World Cup is utter nonsense! Like I said, leave that to some other teams………..”
In a reply to the journalist who wrote the piece, the former cricketer added: “I just hope your coach has the balls to tell your number 5 that it’s not an All Black trait to carry on like that.”
He further drove his point home, replying to several reactions to his latest post.
“I didn’t know his name. And I feel like if this is how he carries on so early in his career, it could be a short one at that level,” he wrote to one follower who suggested that he should at least name the player.
When it was suggested that he was just complaining because South Africa lost, he replied: “Not whinging. I respect the All Blacks and have always done so! Just don’t want to see this kid ruin All Black brand.”
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Ben Earl’s stance
Vaa’i is not the first player to come under criticism for such antics, with Maro Itoje, Jamie George and Ben Earl subjected to the same complaints in recent times.
Earl defended his celebrations last year, admitting that he picked it up from his fellow England and Saracens teammates.
“I caught it off Maro (Itoje), Owen (Farrell), Jamie (George). They were the guys that I looked up to,” he told The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast.
“I’ve been quite vocal in why I do it. The more I get asked, the more I think about it. The loaded gun philosophy is quite interesting for me because I’m so not like that when I’m doing anything else.
“When I play rugby, when I compete, I just love playing for something on the line. I find something hidden deep, deep down that very rarely comes up and those moments for me are magic.
“It kept me engaged in games, it kept me trying to gee my team-mates up, it kept me really positive, which is something I definitely struggled with when I was younger.
“The celebration side of it meant that I was so focused on what was next – enjoying that moment and going into the next thing.”
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