George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock scored the bonus point try before the hour mark as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

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

Northampton were on top in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third score.

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

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three scores in five minutes.

George Hendy completed 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 Year's Final Next for Saints

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

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