Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints made it a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the break but a yellow card to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

International Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides 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 Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they look to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Kade 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 architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

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

Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent day for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams 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. The Saints then conclude 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 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)