Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer 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 the Bulls.

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

The visitors were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five 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 second half.

International Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an error 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 blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

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

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Kade 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 advancing defence before delivering a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.

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 momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

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

Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Northampton in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rematch of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears in their next outing 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)