George 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 first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following 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 aim to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear 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 Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

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

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player 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 bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears next before an away trip 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)