Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton made it maximum points from their opening two European games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side 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 prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

International Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

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

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp 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 try as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith sent George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

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 clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second try and Saints' third score.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an outstanding day 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 last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

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