George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Pretoria Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as the Saints secured a perfect ten points from their first two European games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a yellow card to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to kick on 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 ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant 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 bring the pressure back on the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three scores in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Northampton in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

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