Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Pretoria Bulls

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

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

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the second half.

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

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they aim 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 broke before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in 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.

Ten minutes later, 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 half-time whistle.

Northampton were on top in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three scores in five minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears next 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)