Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Pretoria Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

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

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Saints were dominant 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 away side.

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

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the extra man to secure the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team notched three scores in five minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

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