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

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a commanding Saints team ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed 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 Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

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

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding 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 try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts notched three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

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