George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Bulls

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

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that this season.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear 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 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 ruck base and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Saints were on top in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third score.

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

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

George Hendy completed his triple 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.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from two matches, welcome Bristol 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)