Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Pretoria Bulls

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

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

International Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior 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 Section Paloise last week, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they look to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger 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 quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

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

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

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

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