George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

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

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise last week, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they aim to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

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

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent 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 secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three tries in five minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

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