Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints made it maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

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

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

International Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they look to go one better this season.

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

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith put Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

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

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

Pretoria forward 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 the Saints player but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

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

Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Saints 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 the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have one point from two matches, welcome 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)