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

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton made it maximum points from their first two European games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

International Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of Pool Four on points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after 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 more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were on top in possession and territory and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before delivering a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool will face off in a rematch of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a home game against the Scarlets on January 18th.

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