Dingwall so happy to see Sleightholme shining for Saints again

Sleightholme had a strangely lean 2021/22 season, failing to score at all during 15 appearances, 11 of which were starts.

That campaign came off the back of a hugely successful breakthrough at Saints, as he scored seven in eight appearances in 2018/19, three in 10 in 2019/20 and nine in 12 in 2020/21.

Sleightholme has very much returned to form this season, scoring five tries in six games, including two on his 50th appearance for Saints, against Newcastle Falcons last Saturday.

And Dingwall said: "We all know what Sleights is about and it's good to see him getting regular game time and putting some of the best stuff on the pitch that I've seen him do for a while.

"He's getting back to the heights of the form he had before those injuries and it's great to see, especially as he's a local lad."

Sleightholme's scores were key as Saints clung on the claim a 32-31 win against the Falcons at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens last Saturday.

It means the black, green and gold have bagged back-to-back bonus-point wins in the Gallagher Premiership, but they know their performance levels are nowhere near where they expect them to be.

"The important thing is that it's five points at home and we can walk away from that game satisfied, but it's frustrating because by our standards it's not where we want to be," Dingwall said.

"There are patches of the game that were really good and there were patches that were really quite poor so there are lessons to be learned.

"But, ultimately, it's five points and we can't complain.

"There are just moments as individuals where we switch off and we're trying to get to a place where we want to be a top team who are in the moment for 80 minutes.

"We can't give sides cheap points like we did so it's something we're constantly working at - it's just frustrating that it's been the same story for the past few weeks.

"It was a tough one for us all because it felt like we were very much in control of the game and anything they got out of it was in our control.

"The positive thing is that the solutions are all in our changing room.

"If you can win them ugly then it's not the end of the world.

"The exciting thing was that we got five points and we can get better."

Saints go to Bath on Saturday aiming to avoid a potential banana skin.

Bath have lost all six of their Premiership games this season, though they have pushed Gloucester and Saracens extremely close in recent weeks.

"Once again we'll focus on ourselves," Dingwall said.

"We know when we get things right we can cut sides apart.

"It's another week to focus on our processes, our DNA and what we want to be about.

"It's about us putting it on the field for 80 minutes."