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

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton secured maximum points from their opening two European games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the try line.

But an mistake from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to kick on and show blistering pace of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck 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 the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three scores in five frantic minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth 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 group meet in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host Bristol Bears in their next outing before an away trip 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)