Originally Posted by
Peterm
Zog,
I have taken another look and note that Iatskevich in his book Russian Judo does not mention protecting the right arm by securing it to his own thigh as does Stevens and also uses his left hand to catch his opponent's left leg and move it behind his own head. Stevens uses his left hand to grasp his opponent's right ankle as he rolls.
In brief, Iatskevich controls the left leg. Stevens does not apparently see the left leg in front of his body as being a problem.
You may have some observations about how the two approaches work in practice.
In any event re-reading the beginning of his book Iatskevich writes about his Sambo background so presumably this technique was well known in Sambo circles before it surfaced in international Judo competition in the 1970's?