George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their first two European games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry 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 fourteen-five at the interval but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward 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 Fin Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third score.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to clinch the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three scores in five minutes.

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

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

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