Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Rout Pretoria Bulls

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

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

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

International Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to go one better in this campaign.

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

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put George Hendy over to make it 14-5 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 penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before delivering a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior 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 extra man to clinch the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three scores in five frantic minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament resumes in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a home game against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol 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)