Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Pretoria Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as the Saints secured maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

The visitors 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 final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they look to improve on that this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

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

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Alex 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 dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the away side.

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

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an outstanding day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have one 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)