Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, 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 as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith sent George Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were dominant 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 penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

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