George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Pretoria Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints made it a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock scored the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a sin-binning to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

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

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, 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 14-5 at the break.

Saints were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for 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 adamant he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

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

George Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an outstanding day for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from two matches, host Bristol in their next outing before traveling to 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)