Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Rout Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning 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.

International Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better this season.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on 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 try as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put 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 given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before delivering a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when reviewed by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three scores in five frantic minutes.

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

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the group phase 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)