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

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee 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 victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a better start as they aim to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock broke before passing to 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 was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent George Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the break.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided 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, stepping inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third score.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

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

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host 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)