Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Demolish Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured maximum points from their first two European games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the bonus point 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 unnecessary trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

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

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Northampton's third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the extra man to clinch the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team notched three tries in five minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

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