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

George Hendy bagged a triple as the Saints made it a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

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

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho 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 Saints moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith sent George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Northampton's third score.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

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

Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, welcome Bristol Bears 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)