Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Rout Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

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

The visitors were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints moved to the summit of Pool Four on points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a better start as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

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

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second try and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense 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 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 Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts notched three scores in five minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an outstanding afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group meet in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament resumes in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on 18 January.

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