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

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

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

International Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they look to go one better this season.

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

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a home game against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, welcome Bristol next 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)