Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Pretoria Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as the Saints made it a perfect ten points from their first two European games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

International Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of Pool Four on points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Pollock made a break before passing to Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

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

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

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

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

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

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

Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

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

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