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

George Hendy bagged a triple as the Saints secured maximum points from their first two European games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

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

Shortly after, Saints had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith put George Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the break.

Saints were on top in possession and territory and were being aided from the opposition fly-half 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 creator, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have one point from two matches, welcome Bristol Bears in their next outing before an away trip 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)