George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Pretoria Bulls

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

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

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams 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 Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

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

Shortly after, Northampton had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put Hendy over in the corner 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 Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third.

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

Saints seized the opportunity of having the extra man to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three tries in five minutes.

Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux. Northampton then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, host 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)