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

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

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

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

International Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to go one better this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

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

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second try and Saints' third score.

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

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

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

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears 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)