Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

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

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team cut loose in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to forward Alulutho 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 added 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

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

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Saints were on top in possession and territory and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before delivering a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

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

George Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding day for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from two matches, welcome Bristol in their next outing before traveling to 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)