Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

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

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to prop 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 Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to 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 slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were dominant 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 reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts notched three scores in five minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

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

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from two matches, host Bristol Bears next before traveling to 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)