George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Rout Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints made it maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

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

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break 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 second half.

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

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that this season.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith sent Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the break.

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

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

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

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

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

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

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