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

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured maximum points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try before the hour mark as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game 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 decisive and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

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

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

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

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

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 away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before delivering a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second try and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was adamant 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 secure the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament returns in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol in their next outing before an away trip 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)