George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Pretoria Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured maximum points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless 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 Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade 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 was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger 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 ruck base and then Smith sent George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the extra man to clinch the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three tries in five minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude 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 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)