George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

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

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

International 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 nature of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they look to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock broke before passing to Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second try as fast passing from 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.

Saints were on top in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before delivering a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third score.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

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

George Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and 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 Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a home game against the Scarlets on January 18th.

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