Ireland star John Cooney shows off NFL-style kick as he nails penalty from 55 metres

ULSTER and Ireland scrum-half John Cooney may be established as an accomplished kicker but that doesn't mean he's not still trying to fine-tune his motion.

And that includes learning lessons from NFL specialists like Justin Tucker and Harrison Butker.

He explained: ‘'It’s better to have it & not need it, than to need it and not have it...’'

"I’ve been delving into NFL kicking and studied their kick-off kickers yesterday.

"How do they get more distance? So I copied their steps and routine and tried it today.

"55m in the cold! Maybe one day I’ll need it…"

In a follow-up tweet he added: "I’m also aware that messing around with things can sometimes make you worse.

"Also that some people will say ‘why change something when it’s going very well’.

"But how do you know how far you can go if you don’t go too far?

"You can always go back to what worked originally."

American football is perhaps the most specialised sport in the world with there being two players on each team whose jobs solely come down to kicking the ball a handful of times per match.

And to add an extra layer of complexity to it, they each have designated kicks that they are particularly skilled in.

With kick-offs like the ones Cooney references, it is almost always the kicker who looks after them as well as field goal attempts.

Meanwhile the punters have an even narrower brief as they only have to boot the ball out of their hands when the offence has failed to reach the first down marker and must surrender possession back to the opposition.

It's a largely mental game akin to golf since they cut such isolated figures on the team compared to the bulk of the players who fit in a rotation with other offensive or defensive linemen, linebackers, wide receivers etc.

But interesting to note how it appears kicking a rugby ball in the manner with which gridiron kickers do is feasible since the ball is a slightly different size and shape.