Jamie Jones-Buchanan admits he was guilty of using “horrendous” tackle type

Leeds Rhinos legend Jamie Jones-Buchanan has had his say on the hip drop tackle after a lot of talk about it this week after Mike Cooper’s injury in a tackle from Morgan Knowles.

Assessing the tackle type, Buchanan said:

“It is an unintended consequence of when you are trying to put a player on his back and win the ruck.

“When you are beaten by strength or through footwork, you are desperately trying to get that player back especially as a forward as well you don’t want to be beat, you want to win the collision and get them on their back but it has to be stamped out of the game.

“If you try and manipulate rucks, it can be dangerous and you get what happened to Mike Cooper.”

He was keen to explain that he was not trying to be self-righteous and admitted he had been guilty of it himself as Sky showed footage of his own tackle in 2016.

He said: “I am not trying to be self righteous either, I have been guilty of this in the past. I am just trying to put them on their back and it is tough watching myself do that.

“Whenever you are pulling in a tackle you are more than often going to get it wrong, you should be driving, bending and using your shoulder you will get it right.”

This admission is all the more impressive that he took ownership of this as Terry O’Connor slammed the type of tackle as “horrendous” and “terrible.”