Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Pretoria Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance 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.

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

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

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

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second try and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored 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 outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament resumes in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a home game against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, host Bristol next before traveling to 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)