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

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

International Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Stravino 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 Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Saints were on top in possession and territory and were being aided from the opposition fly-half 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 creator, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Northampton's third.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to clinch the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

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

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux. Northampton then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, welcome Bristol in their next outing before traveling to 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)