Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Pretoria Bulls
Investec Champions Cup Pool Four
Northampton Saints (14) 50
Tries: Sleightholme 2, Hendy 3, Pollock, Coles, Kemeny Cons: Smith 5
Pretoria Bulls (5) 5
Tries: Jacobs
George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured maximum points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.
Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the second half.
The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the break but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.
International Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.
The manner of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that in this campaign.
Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before feeding Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.
But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.
Shortly after, Saints had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the break.
Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided 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 Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third.
Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.
Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered 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 outstanding afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.
Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints
The top two teams in the pool meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the group phase with a home game against the Scarlets on January 18th.
The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from two matches, host Bristol next 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)
