George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Bulls

The young winger 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 hammering of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

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 needless trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux 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 look to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away 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 Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

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

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

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three scores in five minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have one point from two matches, welcome Bristol Bears 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)