Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop 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 Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise last week, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace 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 put George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

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 told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.

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

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts notched three scores in five frantic minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an outstanding afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rematch of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux. Northampton then round off the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome Bristol Bears next before an away trip 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)