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

The young winger bagged a triple as the Saints made it maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock scored the bonus point 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 sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game 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 score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Saints were on top in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three scores in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an outstanding day for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

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