Hat-trick hero Ollie Sleightholme highlighted Northampton Saints’ problem-solving qualities as they produced a devastating second-half performance to sink Bath 71-48 at DPD Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.
While the final result saw the men in Black, Green and Gold streak home by more than a three-score margin, the Gallagher PREM Round 3 encounter was firmly in the balance at the interval as Bath went into the changing rooms holding a slender three-point lead.
But the defending champions showed their class in the second half, adding seven tries and five conversions to win the final 40 minutes by a scoreline of 45-19.
“In the first half we maybe were not on the same page, we were a little big sluggish,” said Sleighthome. “We had a chat about it at half-time, solved the problems, came out and you saw a different team in the second half.”
Sleightholme’s last start at DPD Stadium came five-and-a-half months ago, when he scored two tries against Bath – and the 26-year-old picked up where he left off, registering the fifth hat-trick of his Saints career.
“It always means a lot to score a hat-trick, but even more so to do it in a huge game like that against our big rivals over the last four years or so,” said the prolific back, who has scored 12 tries in his last 11 appearances, and moved to 63 scores on his 105th Saints outing.
“I feel fresh and good, I am over my niggles and issues. It was wicked to be back out there, with it being as loud as it was, back playing with the lads and we got the performance as well.”
While Saints filled their boots, scoring 11 tries, the amount conceded was their most at home in nearly five years – something which is a work-on for Sleightholme and his teammates.
He said: “There were defensive errors, and there is a lot to work on. But there was a lot of times where you’ve just got to respect what good teams can do. They are going to score, we have just got to work out ways to make it harder for them, and ways to try and stop them.
“We got the job done, obviously there’s things to work on. But we are really happy on the whole with the result.”