Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

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

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent 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 twice missed touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when reviewed by the officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the extra man to clinch the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent day for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament resumes in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

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)