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

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints made it a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team cut loose in the latter period.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a yellow card to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they look to go one better this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in 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.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith sent 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 twice missed touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team notched three scores in five minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux. Northampton then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, welcome Bristol Bears in their next outing before traveling to 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)