George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their opening two European games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

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

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the 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 blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

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

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before delivering a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card 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 Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the extra man to clinch the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three scores in five minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

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