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

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock scored the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

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

Saints were on top in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, welcome 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)