George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

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

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

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

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie 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 was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

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

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before delivering a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second try and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

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

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

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the group meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome Bristol Bears in their next outing 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)