George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Pretoria Bulls

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

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the fourth try before the hour mark as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of Pool Four on points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they look to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith sent George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Saints were on top in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

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

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from two matches, welcome Bristol in their next outing 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)