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

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

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

International Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

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

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the 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 electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith sent George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

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

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

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

George Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an outstanding day for Northampton in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament returns in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a home game against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have one point from two matches, host Bristol Bears next before traveling to 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)