George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Rout Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their first two European games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team cut loose in the latter period.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

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

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent George Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

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

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when reviewed by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts notched three scores in five minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

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