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

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

International Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints moved to the summit of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a better start as they look to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were on top in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second try and Northampton's third score.

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

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

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

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a home game against the Scarlets on 18 January.

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