England wing Ollie Sleightholme addresses the Damian Penaud scuffle from Six Nations clash

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England wing Ollie Sleightholme was at the centre of quite the altercation this past weekend, as tempers flared against France in the second round of the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations. Sleightholme found himself in the middle of a scrap with Damian Penaud, after the Northampton wing seemed to drop a shoulder into the back of the unexpectant France flyer.

The play in question saw France make a break through England’s defence, with the ball shipped out wide to Penaud to gain ground along the right touch-line. However, the Bordeaux-Begles man had knocked the ball into touch, and a back-tracking Sleightholme failed to pump the breaks in time to avoid a collision with Penaud.

Sleightholme expressed whilst he is not one to ever shy away from a bit of on-field argy-bargy, the Saints man had no intention to collide into the back of Penaud, and send the wing into the advertising board.

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“There wasn’t really a thought-process. It was an ‘in the moment’ thing. Looking back on it, it looked a bit worse than what it was. I thought I fell into him, but it looks like I’ve shoulder-charged him, which I didn’t. There wasn’t much in it.

“There’s a side of me that does but I know I have to keep my cool and be calm while playing but I don’t think there’s much wrong with a little bit of argy-bargy with your opposite number.”

Whilst the incident with Penaud is an example of how a high-speed back track can go haywire, Sleightholme executed an immense covering tackle to stop a definite try in the second half. After Marcus Smith lost the ball in contact, Louis Bielle-Biarrey broke along the left touchline, but Sleightholme pinned his ears back to make the crucial sweeping hit.

Whilst the Boardeaux man was able to get the ball away in contact, the disjointed offload saw the ball then fumbled by France hooker Peato Mauvaka, with Sleightholme at the heights of the plaudits. The Saints wing was clocked at a scortching speed of 9.2 meters per second, as he tracked across to deny Bielle-Biarrey the try.

“I saw him, I knew it was a turnover and I had to bust my nuts to get there to force something. Whether that was a tackle or an offload. I just had to make it so that he couldn’t score in the corner. A lot of the coaches I’ve worked with have had the philosophy of making them make one more pass; make them do something that they can make a mistake with, rather than not.

“If I don’t force that, then he scores in the corner. I can make the decision to force something and they might still score – they have a high chance – or they definitely score.”

“It just shows the ethos of this team, where we’re really willing to work our socks off for each other and put our bodies on the line for each other to get the win. You’ve seen that in previous games and we just haven’t had that last little bit which has gotten us over the line but you’ve seen the determination and philosophy within the squad.”

“It’s funny, you’re always running fastest when you’re being chased or chasing someone. It’s sort of ‘you just run as fast as you can in that moment to get to him’. That’s all there is to it. There’s not much thought in those situations, I don’t think, it’s more of a reaction.”

As England are now off the board in the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations, Sleightholme expressed how the side have a real confidence behind them now the proverbial ‘dam’ is broken. After seven consecutive Test defeats against tier one nations (not including Japan), England were able to get over the line for a pivotal win, that has shifted the narrative going forward for Steve Borthwick’s side.

“Definitely. It just shows how close we were as a group, that we always managed to find a way to win last year. Moving that forward to now, in an international set-up, we found a way to win at the weekend, which is really positive.”

“I think we have to have every confidence in ourselves, after that win at the weekend. It has proven to us that we can do it, in a weird way. We have come so close and hit the crossbar so many times. That has now given us the belief and we know that when we put our game on the pitch and we do our best to nullify their threats that we can get results against the top teams in the world.”

Sleightholme’s impressive defensive efforts opitimised England’s ‘never say die’ attitude when fronting up as a defensive unit. Since the departure of former defence coach Felix Jones and the arrival of Joe El-Abd, the high-line speed ‘blitz’ defence has been dialed down, with the England players seemingly more tactically aware with their defensive decision making.

“The defensive system has changed which is where you’re seeing most of the change from probably not as aggressive as it was in the Autumn. It’s what I’m personally more used to at club level and probably a lot of the other lads, too. That might be where you’re seeing the difference.

“Also, that we’ve had more time as a squad together; we’ve had more time to refine how we defend with each other. As wings and 13s, we often don’t play with each other at club so it’s about getting that connection while we’re in here to be able to D together and be on the same page.”

Sleightholme sounded off the dicussion, by addressing the significance of the green, black and gold influence upon England’s back-line. At full flight, Northampton Saints can contribute a back line of scrum half Alex Mitchell, fly half Fin Smith, centre Fraser Dingwall and a back-three of Tommy Freeman, Ollie Sleightholme and George Furbank. Whilst not all the Saints stars played in the win against France, the Northampton cohesion was paramount for some key moments on the attacking foot.

“Obviously, we know each other really well. You saw the try that Tommy [Freeman] scored at the weekend from Fin [Smith – cross field kick to the corner] – Fin knew that Tommy would be there and Tommy knows that Fin would be able to put that kick on the money. It’s those connections that are really helpful and useful that we strive to build with each other from other clubs, too, and those are the connections we want.”

“It’s just knowing what people are going to do and how they’re going to go about doing something. Defensively, say Dingers (Fraser Dingwall) is inside me, I’m going to trust that he’ll get to that guy out the back, and I know because I’ve done it so much with him – I’ve seen him do it every time. If Furbs (George Furbank) sees me jump in on the second to last (player), then he’ll come and hit the last for me, and I know he’s going to do that. It’s that sort of thing, the unspoken stuff that happens on the pitch, that you know you’ll get out of each other.”

Sleightholme also took a moment to recall Fin Smith’s arrival at Northampton, when the 22-year-old first rocked up at Franklin’s Gardens back in 2023, following the collapse of Worcester Warriors.

“He came in and he really took the bull by the horns. He came in with a really good confidence of how to run and demand stuff from people. He was one of those players who made a big impact, coming into the club. Obviously, everyone thought at the time that it was going to be a big loss with Biggs going [‘Oh yeah,’ Fin interjects] but he stepped in and did his thing.”

“He’s very cool-headed on the pitch. He knows the game really well and understands it really well – which is obviously what you want from your 10. You saw that at the weekend.”

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