George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

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

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they look to go one better this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

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

Shortly after, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, darting inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before delivering a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the extra man to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team 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 excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

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