Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured maximum points from their first two European games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the break but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped 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 the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third score.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to secure the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team notched three scores in five minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament returns in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

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)