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

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

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

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Saints were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half 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 sweet left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second 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 momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

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

George Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, 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)