Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Rout Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton made it maximum points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break 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 final forty minutes.

International Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a better start as they look to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith put George Hendy over in the corner 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 Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the advancing defence before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

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

Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an outstanding day for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears in their next outing before an away trip 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)