Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Rout Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their first two European games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

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

The visitors were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton 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 Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from Sleightholme 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 electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

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

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the away side.

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

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding day for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament resumes in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux. Northampton then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have one point from two matches, host Bristol Bears 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)