George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Demolish Bulls

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

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in 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 try as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith sent George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three scores in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding day for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, host Bristol in their next outing before an away trip 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)