Derek Beaumont claims John Asiata’s dangerous tackles aren’t his fault

Leigh Leopards are battling with Wigan Warriors and St Helens for a spot in the top two and an all important home semi-final in the Super League play-offs.

They have defied the odds in 2023 thanks to some star players like Lance Todd Trophy winner Lachlan Lam, star man Edwin Ipape and skipper John Asiata.

Asiata is the beating heart of the side and a great leader. But since his tackles in the Challenge Cup semi-final caused a stir after they led to four injuries, he has been under the microscope.

Now Leigh owner Derek Beuamont has weighed in.

“The best human being I’ve met in the game is just an absolute quality human being,” he said on the Last Tackle.

“He’s so selfless, so charitable, thinks about others. He’s a great leader with his actions. His actions are always louder than his words, but when he speaks people take notice and he speaks well. He puts his body on the line and he’s so committed.

“He goes out in the community, he coaches one of the local amateur teams and he’s taking the cup this afternoon to Darien House in Chorley, that a lot of rugby people help out and get involved in. I spoke to John for about an hour to convince him to sign for us during the whole COVID situation.

“My views on it is the same my charity stuff is and it was an hour’s talk of a just a real connection and we’ve just got this special connection and he’s a fantastic man who I’ll always be in debt to along with the rest of the players.”

He did admit he doesn’t like Asiata’s tackle technique but explained it only gets dangerous when he is tired: “We don’t like that tackle technique because it puts John at risk as well. He’ll get looked at at the end of the year but I think the reasons he should be talked about are the ones you just talked about.

“So he’s a massive, massive part in what we do with the ball and huge in defence. That was just desperation. People run at him, they target him, tire him out. They got our middles off before half-time.

“The only teams who have done it this year to us since, they’ve worked hard on it. And when he gets tired he’ll do desperate actions, and if he tries a conventional tackle he’ll just put his head there and that’s what he did and if he tries a conventional tackle he’ll pass his scores and we don’t know to handle it.”