George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Demolish Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton made it 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 fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a yellow card to prop 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 Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a better start as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger 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 fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided 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 Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second try and Northampton's third.

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

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group meet in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament resumes in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have one 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)