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

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the line.

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

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

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Kade 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, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the hosts notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the group phase with a home game against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome 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)