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

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

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock scored the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

International Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace 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 Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith put George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Saints were on top in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

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

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when reviewed by the officials.

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

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Northampton in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group meet in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

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