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

The young winger bagged a triple as the Saints secured maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

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

The Bulls were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a yellow card to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were on top in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Northampton's third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team notched three tries in five minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off 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 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)