Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance 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 final forty minutes.

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

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Pollock made a break before passing to 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 contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

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

Northampton were on top in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

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

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three scores in five minutes.

George 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 outstanding day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the pool will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome 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)