Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Demolish Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton made it maximum points from their first 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 commanding Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock broke before feeding 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 Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Northampton's third.

Pretoria forward 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 momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three scores in five minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux. 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, welcome Bristol next 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)