Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Pretoria Bulls

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

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the latter period.

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

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton 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 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino 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 quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second try and Northampton's third score.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when reviewed by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts notched three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the group phase with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, welcome Bristol Bears 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)