George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Demolish Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton made it maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

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

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith put George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

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

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

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

Hendy wrapped up his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent day for Northampton in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single 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)