Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

But an error from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing 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 Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent Hendy over in the corner 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 Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third score.

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

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints 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 the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the pool stage 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)