Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Rout Pretoria Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton secured maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

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

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent 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 capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three scores in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an outstanding afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. 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 their opening two games, 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)