George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Pretoria Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as the Saints secured a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to prop 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 defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock broke before passing to Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before delivering a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third score.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts notched three scores in five minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

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