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

George Hendy bagged a triple as the Saints made it a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a commanding Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

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

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

Saints were on top 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 reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

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

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux. Northampton then round off the group phase with a home game against the Scarlets on 18 January.

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