George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Rout Pretoria Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning 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 from the tee as Northampton went top of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a better start as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme 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 electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second try and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears next before an away trip 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)