Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Rout Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice 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 interval but a sin-binning to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme 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, Saints had their second try as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the away side.

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

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three scores in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, host Bristol Bears in their next outing before an away trip 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)