Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

The young winger 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 ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho 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 their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints 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 opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Saints were dominant in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an outstanding afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

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

The Pretoria 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)