Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as the Saints secured a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, 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 look to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third score.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three scores in five frantic minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament returns in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome Bristol in their next outing before traveling to 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)