Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their first two European games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

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

The manner of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

But an error from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put Hendy over 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 Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three scores in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

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

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol 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)