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

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints made it a perfect ten points from their opening two European games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior 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 Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a better start as they aim 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 made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent George Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

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

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

Northampton capitalized of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team notched three scores in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group meet in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome Bristol in their next outing before traveling to 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)