George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as the Saints made it maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the latter period.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith put George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Northampton were on top 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 bring the pressure back on the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third score.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three scores in five minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an outstanding day for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears next before an away trip 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)