Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Rout Pretoria Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their opening two European games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a sin-binning to forward Alulutho 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 holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

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

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a sweet grubber kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second try and Northampton's third score.

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

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rematch of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in January as Saints head to Bordeaux. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against the 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)