Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

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

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to prop 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 with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to go one better this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over to make it 14-5 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 failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

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

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 match officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux. Northampton then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from two matches, welcome Bristol in their next outing 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)