George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton secured maximum points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a better start as they look to improve on that this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith put George 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 given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third score.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team notched three scores in five frantic minutes.

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

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux. 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 two matches, host Bristol Bears in their next outing before an away trip 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)