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

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card 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.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that 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 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 kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

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

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second try and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three scores in five frantic minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in 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 group will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Saints 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)