George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Pretoria Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

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 very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Saints were on top in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

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

Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an outstanding day for Northampton in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears in their next outing 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)