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

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

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

International Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory 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 away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second try and Northampton's third.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an outstanding day for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from two matches, welcome Bristol in their next outing before an away trip 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)