George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Rout Pretoria 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.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

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

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent 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 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 architect, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip 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 Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits 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 Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the group phase with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from two matches, 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)