America's Cup: Oracle villain Jimmy Spithill takes aim at NZ national bird; Blair Tuke responds

Blair Tuke has returned serve following Jimmy Spithill's provocative Instagram post.

The Oracle Team USA skipper loves to goad his Team New Zealand foes and fired another shot across their bow on Thursday (NZ time) when posting an artist's picture of an American bald eagle swooping down to grab a helpless, wide-eyed kiwi in its talons.

Subtlety and Spithill have never gone hand-in-hand, with the message loud and clear that he's preparing to hunt Kiwis ahead of the America's Cup showdown with Team New Zealand.

​The 37-year-old Australian captioned the photo with "#battleofbermuda".

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However, Team New Zealand trimmer Tuke responded with his own take on the battle of the national birds, posting the image with the same caption used by Spithill.

In case you missed the 2013 America's Cup, Spithill was the Oracle skipper who completed the miraculous comeback from 8-1 down to beat TNZ 9-8.

And he's let few people forget about it since.