George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a commanding Saints team ran riot in the second half.

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

International Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they aim to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were on top in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three scores in five frantic minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament resumes in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, host Bristol next before traveling to 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)