Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Rout Bulls

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

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

The Bulls were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a sin-binning to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

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

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

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Pretoria winger 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 Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith put Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

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

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third score.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when reviewed by the officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five minutes.

Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an outstanding afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a home game against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria 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)