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

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

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a better start as they aim to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

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

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade 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 sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts notched three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an outstanding day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

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

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome 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)