Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their first two European games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points from the tee 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, 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 better start as they look to improve on that this season.

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

But an error from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the break.

Saints were dominant in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed 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 wrong-foot the onrushing defense before delivering a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third score.

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

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

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

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rematch of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from two matches, host Bristol Bears in their next outing 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)