Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Rout Bulls

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

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock scored the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

International Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton 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 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

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

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before delivering a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned 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 Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

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