Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee 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, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the extra man to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three scores in five minutes.

Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an outstanding day for Northampton in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

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

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