George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Demolish 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 hammering of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game 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 decisive and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Pollock broke before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to kick on 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 14-5 at the break.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the extra man to clinch the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

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

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host Bristol in their next outing 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)