George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the latter period.

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 needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise 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 shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third score.

Pretoria forward 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 accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an outstanding afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux. Northampton then round off the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, welcome Bristol Bears next before traveling to 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)