Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

International Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that this season.

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

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three scores in five minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host Bristol 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)