Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Pretoria Bulls

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

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a commanding Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho 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 Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of their pool on 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 last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a better start as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear 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 Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck 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 clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three tries in five minutes.

Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

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