George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Pretoria Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as the Saints secured a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

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 unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try 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 hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

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

Saints were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided 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 Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third score.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the extra man to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team notched three scores in five frantic minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the group phase with a home game 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)