Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card 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 Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

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

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

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

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

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

Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year'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 January as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, 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)