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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Ben James

The Gary Lineker tweet about the haka that has provoked a passionate backlash

It wouldn't be the World Cup without some debate over the haka.

We've seen it all in the last couple of weeks - from allegations of it being disrespected by chanting fans ahead of the South Africa game to one Irish-based writer even calling for it to be banned because of a perceived 'advantage' it brings.

It can, in all honesty, get a bit tiring for genuine rugby supporters.

So it was little surprise that when Match of the Day host and former England footballer Gary Lineker waded in the debate on the war dance - or rather just created a new one that no one really asked for - that it was met with widespread backlash.

Lineker tweeted out a video of the All Blacks performing Ka Mate with the caption: "Must be so hard not to just laugh at this if you’re the opposition."

That initial tweet was met with, at the time of writing, around 2,400 replies - all largely saying the same thing.

The overwhelming reaction was that Lineker's tweet wasn't the greatest.

Some even accused him of being culturally insensitive - something he went on to deny.

All in all, most rugby fans just seemed tired of the haka being knocked once more on social media.

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