Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Demolish Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured maximum 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 inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

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 needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions 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 hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

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

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

Saints were dominant in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third.

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

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie 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 try of an excellent day for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

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

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host Bristol in their next outing 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)