George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish 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 crossed twice and Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock broke before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Northampton were on top in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

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

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card 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 contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have one point from two matches, host Bristol Bears 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)