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

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock scored the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

International Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

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

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

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

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were on top 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 proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third score.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. The prop 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 officials.

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

Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent day for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, host Bristol Bears 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)