Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout 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 Pretoria.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance 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 did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

International Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit 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 Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring 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 was knocked on in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith put 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 aided 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 perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact 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 bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team registered 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 outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

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