Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Rout Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the interval 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 second half.

International Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides 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 better start as they look to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

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

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

Saints were on top in possession and territory 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 told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three scores in five minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group meet 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. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

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