Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Bulls

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

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

International Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before delivering a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three scores in five minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an outstanding day for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from two matches, welcome 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)