Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish 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 hammering of Pretoria.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the break but a yellow card to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

International Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints 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 victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second try as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided 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, stepping inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three tries in five minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host Bristol 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)