George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the break but a yellow card to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three scores in five frantic minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome Bristol Bears next before traveling to face Pau.

Line-ups

Northampton: Furbank; Sleightholme, Hutchinson, Dingwall, Hendy; F Smith, Mitchell; Fischetti, Wright, Davison, Coles, Van der Mescht, Kemeny, Pearson, Pollock

Replacements: R Smith, Iyogun, Kundiona, Munga, Prowse, Graham, James, Thame

Bulls: Williams; Petersen, Gans, Vorster, Jacobs; Wolhuter, Burger; Tshakweni, Van der Merwe, Smith, Wiese, Van Heerden, Coetzee, Ludwig, Louw

Replacements: Else, Sithole, Mchunu, Gumede, Carr, Papier, Johannes, Van Niekerk

Yellow card: Tshakweni (53)

Match Officials

Referee: Hollie Davidson (Sco)

Assistant referees: Rob McDowell (Sco) and Dave Sutherland (Sco)

TMO: Mike Adamson (Sco)