George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as the Saints secured a perfect ten points from their first two European games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho 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 added 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of Pool Four on points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they look to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before feeding 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 contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

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

Saints were dominant in possession and territory 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 visitors.

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

Pretoria forward Alulutho 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 just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team notched three scores in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an outstanding day for Saints 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 the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

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