Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Pretoria 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.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

The visitors 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 unnecessary trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an error 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 score after 22 minutes.

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

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident 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 Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three scores in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent day for Northampton in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rematch of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

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