George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock scored 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 sin-binning to prop 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 Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints moved to the summit of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked 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 Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

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

Saints were on top in possession and territory and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, darting inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to secure 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 12 minutes remaining 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 Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints 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 next before an away trip 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)