Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Demolish Pretoria Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton secured maximum points from their first two European games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a commanding Saints team cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to prop 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 Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they look to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in 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 score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

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

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the officials.

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

Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

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

The Bulls, who have one point from two matches, 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)