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

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock scored the bonus point 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 interval but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho 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 Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up 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 shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the line.

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

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

Northampton were on top in both ball and field position 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 Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third.

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

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three scores in five frantic minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

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

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