Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as the Saints made it a perfect ten points from their first 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 dominant Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

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

International Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

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

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

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

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Saints were dominant in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three scores in five minutes.

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

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux. Northampton then round off the group phase with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria 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)