Interview ‘Luckily I got some of the old man’s genetics’
Sleightholme will never beat superhuman Playstation pace of his father but the wing is still on a charge to the top
Ollie Sleightholme is a player in a hurry. The Northampton wing, who scored a try just 18 seconds into his senior debut, has barely slowed down since earning a place in Eddie Jones’s latest England training squad.
With the premium that Jones places on raw pace, it is not hard to see why the head coach has taken a shine to Sleightholme, whose top speed has been clocked at 10.75metres per second and who can sprint 20m sprint in 1.95sec.
Adam Radwan, England’s flying Falcon, has recorded a slightly faster 10.8m per second, but Sam Vesty, Northampton’s attack coach, would back Sleightholme, 21, in any Premiership foot race.
“There are lots of wingers around, but there are not many who are as dynamic or as fast as Ollie,” Vesty says. “He is absolutely rapid. Speed kills in rugby. And if you get any sort of chance, that speed element is a massive part of converting his chance. He is also a tenacious, dogged young man who does not take a backward step.”
You suspect that doggedness also figures highly among Jones’s penchants.
Sleightholme’s highlights reel features as many try-savers as tries, notably when he hauled in Wasps’ Josh Bassett, who had a 10m start following an intercept. Not only did Sleightholme get back to tackle him, but he was over the ball to help effect the turnover without seeming to break a sweat.
Some wings, Vesty says, will score you two tries and cost you one. Sleightholme scores you two and saves you two.
“I love that side of it,” Sleightholme says. “Any way I can help the team I will. I would not say I was always naturally fast. I have worked very hard on it with our strength and conditioning coaches, especially my one-to-one sessions with Ben [Rhodes]. It is one of those things I try to use to my advantage as much as I can. Sometimes there is not enough space to do that, so you have to find other ways to get to the line. Luckily, I got some of the old man’s genetics.”
The “old man” is Jon Sleightholme,
a 12-cap England winger who, while fast in his own right, gained a cult following due to a coding error in the video game, Jonah Lomu Rugby, that endowed him with superhuman pace that not even his fleet-footed son can match.
Playstation montages aside, his was a career played out in the days before viral footage, although Sleightholme Snr has found notoriety in one well-watched clip. “The one he hates is of him being run over by Jonah Lomu [in England v New Zealand Barbarians], but I don’t show him that too much,” Sleightholme says. “I have a bit of sympathy, playing against Big T [Taqele Naiyaravoro] in training here.”
There is a growing club of Saints sons, with half-backs
James Grayson (Paul) and Connor Tupai
(Paul), along with former utility back
Harry Mallinder (Jim), although all the fathers have kept their distance.
“Up until I was involved in the academy, he was a big help and gave a lot of advice,” Sleightholme says. “Once I got in the academy, he backed off a bit. You speak to lads like ‘Grays’ and he has also taken a step back. They know the coaches here are world class, so they leave them to get on with it.”
It is fair to say, though, that Northampton are in Sleightholme’s blood. He grew up playing for Northampton Old Scouts, playing in tournaments held in the fields in the shadow of Franklin’s Gardens. “That’s all I ever dreamt of when I was a kid, getting to pull on that shirt,” Sleightholme says. His passion and heritage did not prevent his release from the academy when he was 15. “It is how you take it. Some people can take it as, ‘That’s me done’. Other people take it as, ‘I just need to work harder than everyone else now’. That’s the route I took.”
He eventually realised his dream when he scored a try on his debut against Wasps in 2018 in less time than it takes to boil a kettle. “That was one of my fondest memories of being here I don’t actually remember scoring the try, I just remember the celebrations afterwards. I watch it back on video and it seems like it is someone else.” Sleightholme was called up to the England squad to face the United States and Canada this summer, but dropped out when he suffered a concussion. Jones again sent a summons for the latest training squad, which Sleightholme describes as a “getting-toknow-you session” ahead of the autumn internationals.
The standard cliche in these interviews is for a player to now say that he wishes to concentrate on his club form and anything else will come off the back of that, which is exactly what Sleightholme says. The difference is that Sleightholme’s focus on Northampton is borne of a genuine passion.
“I have grown up here my whole life, it is all I have ever wanted to do, so every time I pull on the shirt I am super proud. I like to try to remind myself to play every game like it is my last. The opportunity to pull on that shirt is so amazing to me.” Sleightholme is not the only one who feels that way, with director of rugby Chris Boyd largely placing his faith in academy products such as Alex Mitchell, George Furbank, Alex Coles and Fraser Dingwall. The band-of-brothers feeling around the Gardens has contributed to Northampton’s excellent start to the season, as they won their first three matches before Sunday’s 26-20 defeat at Wasps. “There are a lot of teams where you bring in players from everywhere and they are constantly striving to get that team cohesion,” Sleightholme says.
“We have grown up together and played with each other from age-grade level, we are almost like one big family. The team bonding does not have to be forced because it is already there. I think it helps a lot. We have had a great start to the season.
“Last year, we were a whisker away from the top four, but this is the year when we feel like we really need to kick on.”
‘I have grown up here, so every time I pull on the Saints shirt I am super proud’