George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

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

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a sin-binning to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

International Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half 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 creator, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third score.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three scores in five minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final 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 group will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a home game against the Scarlets on 18 January.

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