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

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a commanding Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register 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 superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith put George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from the opposition 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 architect, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third score.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

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

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

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol next before an away trip 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)