George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team cut loose in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a yellow card to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

International Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

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

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Bulls wing 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 break.

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts notched three scores in five frantic minutes.

Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

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

The Pretoria 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)