George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Demolish Pretoria Bulls

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

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the interval 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 final forty minutes.

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

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to go one better this season.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Kade 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, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

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

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

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, host Bristol Bears 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)