George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Pretoria Bulls

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

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock scored the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

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

The manner of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise last week, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, 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 Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Northampton were dominant 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 visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before delivering a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

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

Hendy wrapped up his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the pool stage with a home game against the Scarlets on January 18th.

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