George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Rout Pretoria 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 Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to forward Alulutho 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 from the tee as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

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

Saints were dominant in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

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

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

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, 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)