George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

The visitors were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a yellow card to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

International Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that this season.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the line.

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on 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 quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were on top in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

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

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

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

Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux. 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 two matches, host Bristol next 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)