George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Rout Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

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

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 needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

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

Saints were dominant 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 away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before delivering a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player 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 bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the group phase with a home game against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, welcome Bristol Bears 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)