George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Pretoria Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their opening two European games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

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

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of Pool Four on points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim 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 made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position 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 creator, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three tries in five minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rematch of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears next 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)