Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to forward 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 added 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

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

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent George Hendy over 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 the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before delivering a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second try and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to clinch the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the group meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears 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)