Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Rout Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it 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 inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace 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 Fin Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Northampton were on top in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Saints' 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 momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

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

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

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament resumes in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a home game against the Scarlets on January 18th.

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