Sleightholme 'getting there' as he seeks to hit top form during Saints' title push

The wing delivered a try double last Saturday, dotting down twice during the enthralling 41-38 league victory against Bath at a sold-out cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.

Sleightholme was also a threat at the breakdown, and he showed his strength on several occasions, notably when scoring during the second half.

The 26-year-old has been hugely unfortunate with injuries since emerging from the Saints Academy, but he is now fit again and aiming to keep firing.

Sleightholme has a fantastic record of 59 tries in 102 appearances for Saints, while he has also scored six tries in eight games for England.

And when asked how he feels about his current form, he said: “I'm getting there.

“I'm struggling with a few knocks and niggles but it takes time.

“Hopefully I'll get there soon.”

Saints were far from delighted with their display in the win against a heavily-rotated Bath side, but they ultimately got the job done to claim the full five points thanks to Fin Smith’s penalty with the final kick of the match.

"It's definitely not the performance we wanted to get,” Sleightholme said.

“We'll take the learnings from it and it's better to be taking the learnings from a win than a loss.

“We were lucky because it could have gone either way and it could have gone either way the week before (in the win at Exeter Chiefs) as well so we've got to take the learnings from that and try to improve.

“We're still top but we can't keep leaving it that close if we want to go deep in the competition.”