George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Hammer Bulls

George Hendy bagged a triple as the Saints made it maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and 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 break but a yellow card to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

International Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints moved to the summit of Pool Four on points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, 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 aim to improve on that this season.

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

But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed 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 sent George Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third score.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

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

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

Rematch 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 the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the group phase with a home game against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, welcome 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)