George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Rout Pretoria Bulls

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

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

The visitors were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise last week, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

But an error from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp 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 Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent George Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the break.

Saints were on top in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third.

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

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent day for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux. Northampton then round off the group phase with a home game against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, welcome Bristol Bears next before traveling to 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)