Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to forward 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.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of Pool Four on points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to go one better this season.

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

But an error from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, darting inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three tries in five minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Saints 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 one point from two matches, host Bristol in their next outing 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)