Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly 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 went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

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

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second try and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three scores in five frantic minutes.

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

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints 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 two matches, host 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)