George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their first two European games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock scored the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Pollock broke before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second as fast passing 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 half-time whistle.

Northampton were on top in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third score.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in the new year as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, welcome Bristol Bears next 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)