Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as the Saints made it maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

International Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they look to improve on that this season.

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

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before delivering a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

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

Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament resumes in January as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on 18 January.

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