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

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

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a yellow card to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to improve on that this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Sleightholme who showed his pace 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 contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

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

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third score.

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

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

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

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament returns in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, host Bristol Bears 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)