George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their first two European games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a better start as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

But an mistake 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 score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before delivering a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Saints 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 Investec Champions Cup resumes in January as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, welcome Bristol next before an away trip 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)