George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side 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 did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, coming after 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 look to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter failed with 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 race clear to the try line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith put Hendy over 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 Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel 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 unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

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

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

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

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

The Bulls, who have one point from two matches, welcome Bristol Bears in their next outing 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)