Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish 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 hammering of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a better start as they aim to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Northampton were on top in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to deceive the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third score.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop 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 Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent day for Northampton in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the group phase with a home game against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host 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)