George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as the Saints made it maximum points from their first two European games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and 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 yellow card to forward Alulutho 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 Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints moved to the summit of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

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

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over 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 proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Northampton's third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux. Northampton then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, host Bristol Bears 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)