Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Pretoria Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a yellow card to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

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

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

But an error from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the extra man to secure the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

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