George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

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

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

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Saints 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 clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three scores in five frantic minutes.

Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an outstanding day for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have one point from two matches, host 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)