Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Demolish Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

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

The visitors were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade 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 was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent George Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the break.

Saints were dominant 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 visitors.

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

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

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

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

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool will face off in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host 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)