Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Demolish Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a commanding Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in 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 reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Northampton 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 clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before delivering a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three scores in five minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host Bristol in their next outing before an away trip 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)