George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Pretoria Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints made it a perfect ten points from their first 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 commanding Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

International Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

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

Shortly after, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Saints were dominant 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 bring the pressure back on the away side.

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

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

Saints seized the opportunity of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts notched three tries in five minutes.

Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent day for Northampton in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the pool will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome Bristol 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)