Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Pretoria Bulls

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

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a better start as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

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

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

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping 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 Northampton's third score.

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

Northampton capitalized of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts notched three scores in five minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

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

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from two matches, 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)