George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints made it a perfect ten points from their first two European games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock scored the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The visitors 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 needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a better start as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before Saints 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 let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

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

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

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts notched three tries in five minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent day for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. 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 Bears next 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)