George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Demolish Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as the Saints secured maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

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

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning 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 Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

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

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

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

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the break.

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the away side.

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

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been responding 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 seized the opportunity of having the extra man to secure the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three scores in five frantic minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an outstanding day for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, welcome 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)