George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Rout Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the break but a yellow card to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary 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 their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away 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 Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the break.

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

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

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

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent day for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament returns in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a home game against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host Bristol next 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)