George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Pretoria Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton made it maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side 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 prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Pretoria winger 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 try as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Northampton were on top in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before delivering a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Northampton's third score.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

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

Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the pool will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from two matches, welcome Bristol Bears next 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)