George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a commanding Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to forward 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 contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

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

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before passing to Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent George 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 clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the away side.

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

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts 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 and final try of an excellent day for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, host Bristol in their next outing before an away trip 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)