George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Rout 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 a perfect ten points from their first two European games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.
Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.
The visitors were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the break but a yellow card to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly 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 their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.
The nature of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a better start as they look to go one better in this campaign.
Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.
But an error from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.
Shortly after, Saints had their second try as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith sent George Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the break.
Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the visitors.
That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Northampton's third score.
Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when reviewed by the officials.
Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the home team registered three scores in five minutes.
George Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding day for Northampton in the final minute.
Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints
The top two teams in the pool meet in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament resumes in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.
The Pretoria Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, welcome Bristol in their next outing 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)
