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

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

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

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

International Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second 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 fourteen to five at the break.

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 penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second try and Northampton's third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three tries 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 day for Northampton in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux. Northampton then round off the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome Bristol Bears next 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)