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

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints made it a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

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

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before passing to Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition 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 Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three scores in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have one point from two matches, 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)