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

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock scored the bonus point try before the hour mark 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 interval but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

International Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead 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 was knocked on in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second try as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent George Hendy over in the corner 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 twice missed touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second try and Northampton's third score.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three scores in five frantic minutes.

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

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

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

The Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol 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)