George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints made it maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Pollock made a break before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

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

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

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 clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

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

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three scores in five frantic minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a home game against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears 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)