Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Pretoria Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured maximum points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

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

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they look to improve on that this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace 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 Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent 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 given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts notched three scores in five minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the group meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, welcome Bristol in their next outing before an away trip 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)