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

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their opening two European games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock scored the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the break but a yellow card to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

International Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a better start as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

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

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Saints were dominant in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

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

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three scores in five minutes.

Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

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

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from two matches, welcome Bristol in their next outing before an away trip 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)