George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Demolish Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured maximum points from their first two European games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they did not score 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 defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

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

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace 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 Fin Smith sent Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Northampton were on top in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

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

George Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

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