George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

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

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try before the hour mark as a commanding Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the break but a yellow card to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

International Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams 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 Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second try and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

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