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

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their opening two European games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

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

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

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the break.

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 clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to clinch the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team notched three scores in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament resumes in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a home game against the Scarlets on January 18th.

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