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

The young winger 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.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop 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 Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second try and Saints' third score.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni 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 unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts notched three scores in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

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

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome Bristol next 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)