George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Demolish Bulls

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

Ollie 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 break but a yellow card to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

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

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half 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 creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament resumes in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the group phase with a home game against the Scarlets on 18 January.

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