Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Pretoria Bulls

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

Sleightholme crossed twice 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 still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise last week, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith put Hendy over 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 Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed 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 Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

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

George Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining 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 Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears in their next outing before an away trip 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)