George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Pretoria Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured a perfect ten points from their first two European games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho 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 Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

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

Shortly after, Saints had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

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

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an outstanding day for Northampton in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, welcome Bristol Bears 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)