Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints made it a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

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

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better this season.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third score.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three scores 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 outstanding day for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

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