Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Pretoria Bulls

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

Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock scored the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the break but a yellow card to prop 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 with the boot as Saints went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second try and Northampton's third score.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament resumes in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears next 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)