George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second try and Northampton's third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense 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 looked at by the officials.

Saints seized the opportunity 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 triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome Bristol next 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)