George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints made it maximum points from their first two European games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

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

International Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise last week, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better this season.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal 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 mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith put Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the break.

Saints were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts notched 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 excellent afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet 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 home game against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single 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)