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

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

Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the bonus point 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 Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Pollock broke before feeding 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 contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed 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 Fin Smith put George Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

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

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three scores in five frantic minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

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