George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Pretoria Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as the Saints secured maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

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

England fly-half Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, 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 aim to go one better this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the hosts notched three scores in five minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament returns in the new year as Northampton travel 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 their opening two games, welcome Bristol Bears in their next outing 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)