Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Pretoria Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured maximum points from their first two European games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the latter period.

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

England fly-half Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after 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.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie 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 contact, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the half-time whistle.

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

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

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

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

Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent day for Saints in the final minute.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the group meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome Bristol Bears 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)