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

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

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team ran riot 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 very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as fast passing from 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.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second try and Northampton's third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the extra man to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits 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 resumes in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one 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)