George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Demolish Pretoria Bulls

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

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls 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 decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a better start as they aim to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try 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 kick on 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 base of a ruck and then Smith sent Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts notched three tries in five minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears next before traveling to 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)