George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Rout Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

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

The visitors were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

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

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second try and Northampton's third.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when reviewed by the officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three scores in five frantic 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 day for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux. Northampton then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, welcome 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)