George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Bulls

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

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

International Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three scores in five minutes.

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

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from two matches, host Bristol in their next outing before traveling to face 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)