Perfect example by Atkins for his try on Friday.

Got me thinking that has this been around for years or is it a recent thing. Nowadays it's more or less every tackle. I can't seem to remember it as obvious in the 70's or 80's.

As a kid some 30 year ago we were taugh to turn in the tackle to give you a better chance of offloading to a teammate. The "art" of actually spinning out of a tackle really took off when American Football started to be shown in the UK as it was common place for running back to use it to gain extra yards.

i used to hate watching the paul brothers doing it.

As the poster above said, the 'hit and spin' really took hold through American Football. I teach it to juniors all the time, it also has the added benefit of positioning your body so you land 'elbows and knees' after the collision and thus secure a quick play-the-ball.

Its good when trying to get out of your in goal or like Atkins going over the try line as its very hard to be stopped, however i don't like it to be used anywhere else as you won't make as many metres