Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Rout Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side 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 Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

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

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the line.

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

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

Hendy wrapped up his triple 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 final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, host Bristol Bears in their next outing before an away trip 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)