Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

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

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock scored the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

The visitors 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 very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a better start as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on 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 and Northampton's third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts notched three scores in five minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome Bristol Bears in their next outing 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)