Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Pretoria Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured a perfect ten points from their first two European games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

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

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

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

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

Shortly after, Saints had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Northampton were on top in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third score.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to clinch the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding day for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

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

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, host Bristol Bears 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)