Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as the Saints 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 Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the away side.

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

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

Northampton 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 scores in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an outstanding afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol next 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)