George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Rout Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the break but a yellow card 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 Pool Four on points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Alex 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 break.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third score.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three scores in five minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Year'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. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have one point from two matches, welcome Bristol Bears in their next outing before traveling to face 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)