Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen has slammed All Blacks lock Tupou Vaa\u2019i for his excessive celebrations against the Springboks at Eden Park.<\/b><\/p>\n
Pietersen, who was born and raised in South Africa and supports the Springboks<\/a>, has labelled the second-rower as an \u2019embarrassment\u2019 to rugby after the lock was shown celebrating turnovers during the Round Three Rugby Championship fixture.<\/p>\n Celebrating like you\u2019ve won the World Cup<\/p>\n 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 \u2018the balls\u2019 to stamp out Vaa\u2019i\u2019s<\/a> behaviour.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope the All Blacks<\/a> had their review of yesterday\u2019s Test and the coach explained to their number 5, that celebrating a turnover like you\u2019ve won the World Cup is embarrassing!\u201d Pietersen wrote on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cLeave that to other teams\u2026\u2026..\u201d<\/p>\n He has since doubled down on his take, posting a screenshot of an article headline that read \u201cEmbarrassing: Ex England cricket captain takes aim at All Blacks lock\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cGood! He was an embarrassment to All Blacks rugby, which is built on respect and tradition,\u201d Pietersen wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cCelebrating turnovers like you\u2019ve won the World Cup is utter nonsense! Like I said, leave that to some other teams\u2026\u2026\u2026..\u201d<\/p>\n In a reply to the journalist who wrote the piece, the former cricketer added: \u201cI just hope your coach has the balls to tell your number 5 that it\u2019s not an All Black trait to carry on like that.\u201d<\/p>\n He further drove his point home, replying to several reactions to his latest post.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t 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,\u201d he wrote to one follower who suggested that he should at least name the player.<\/p>\n When it was suggested that he was just complaining because South Africa lost, he replied: \u201cNot whinging. I respect the All Blacks and have always done so! Just don\u2019t want to see this kid ruin All Black brand.\u201d<\/p>\n Opinion: Springboks were \u2018outfoxed, outboxed\u2019 and deserved to lose to ruthless All Blacks despite perceived referee misgivings<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n