Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured maximum points from their opening two European games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot 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 victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

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

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before delivering a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third score.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team notched three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Northampton travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, host Bristol 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)