George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Bulls

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

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a better start 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 made a break before feeding 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 kick on and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three scores in five minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

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

The Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears in their next outing before traveling to 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)