Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton made it maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game 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.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Northampton were on top in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

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

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts notched three scores in five minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent day for Northampton in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

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