George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as the Saints made it maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith added 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 nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to improve on that this season.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

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

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith sent George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

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

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts notched three scores in five minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the group phase 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)