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

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton made it maximum points from their opening two European games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team cut loose 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 needless trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road 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 failed with an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before passing to Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

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

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

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

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, welcome Bristol Bears in their next outing before traveling to 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)