George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as the Saints secured a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break 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 Saints went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they look to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Pollock broke before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

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

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

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

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three scores in five minutes.

Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

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