George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Rout Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their opening two European games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

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

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

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

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three tries in five minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

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