Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints made it a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls 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 decisive and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme 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 fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an outstanding afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament resumes in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single 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)