George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Pretoria Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score fourteen-five 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 from the tee as Saints went top of Pool Four on points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they aim to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake 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.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five 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 failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, 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.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

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

George Hendy wrapped up his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an outstanding afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the pool will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have one 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)