George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary 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 Saints went top of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Pollock broke before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from the winger 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 electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over 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 reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts notched three tries in five minutes.

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

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

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

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