George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as the Saints made it maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls 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 failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to improve on that this season.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith put George Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant 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 reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

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

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

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three scores in five frantic minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent day for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group meet in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a home game against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, host Bristol Bears next before an away trip 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)