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

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team cut loose 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 failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Saints 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 penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin 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 grab his second try and Northampton's third.

Bulls prop Alulutho 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 Iyogun but the incident 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 try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three tries in five 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 excellent afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

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

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, host Bristol Bears next 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)