George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as the Saints secured maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

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 very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

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

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino 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 base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 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 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 deceive the advancing defence before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second try and Northampton's third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

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

George Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an outstanding day for Northampton 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 rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in January as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the pool stage 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 next 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)