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

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

International Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Bulls wing 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 Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George 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. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the extra man to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent day for Northampton 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 the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, welcome Bristol Bears next 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)