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

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

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

The Bulls were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they aim to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward 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 Smith sent George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Northampton were on top in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three scores in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, 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)