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

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

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

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 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 manner of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward 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 ruck base and then Fin Smith put Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Northampton were on top in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

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

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an outstanding afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a home game against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host Bristol in their next outing before traveling to 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)