George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

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

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

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

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino 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 Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent George Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were on top in possession and territory 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 wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Northampton's third score.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the extra man to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three scores in five minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament returns in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux. Northampton then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome Bristol Bears in their next outing 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)