Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton secured maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary 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 moved to the summit of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a better start as they look to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

But an error from Sleightholme 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 reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position 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 away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third score.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament returns in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux. Northampton then round off the group phase with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome Bristol in their next outing before traveling to 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)