Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

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

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

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second try and Northampton's third score.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card 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 unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the hosts notched three scores in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun 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 returns in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

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