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

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

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

The manner 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 hoped for a better start as they look to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith put Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the break.

Northampton were dominant 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 penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

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

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the hosts notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

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

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rematch of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host Bristol in their next outing before an away trip 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)