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

The young winger bagged a triple as the Saints secured maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

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

The visitors were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card 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.

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

The manner of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

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

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

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

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group meet in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

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