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

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

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

The visitors 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 unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

International Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

But an error from the winger 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 score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 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 Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three scores in five frantic minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season'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 tournament returns in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a home game against the Scarlets on January 18th.

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