Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Demolish Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their opening two European games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the break but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

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

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent George Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the break.

Northampton were on top in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Saints' 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 the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

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

George Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears in their next outing before an away trip face 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)