George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Rout Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured a perfect ten points from their opening two European games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the break but a yellow card to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they aim to go one better this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Pollock broke before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

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

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the break.

Northampton were on top in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

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

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an outstanding day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the pool will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, 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)