George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Bulls

The young winger 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 Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to forward 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 Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

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

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock broke before passing to Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent Hendy over in the corner 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 twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third.

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

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team notched three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an outstanding day for Northampton in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, welcome Bristol Bears in their next outing 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)