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

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints made it maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a better start as they look to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp 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, Northampton had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Northampton were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

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

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the pool will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, welcome 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)