George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Demolish Pretoria Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho 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 from the tee as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a better start as they aim to go one better this season.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on 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 as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were on top in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Northampton's third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts notched three scores in five minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on 18 January.

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)