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

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to go one better this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith put 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 aided from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when reviewed by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three tries in five minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

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

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host 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)