Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Bulls

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

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints moved to the summit of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before delivering a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for 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 momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet 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 January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome Bristol next before an away trip 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)