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

George Hendy bagged a triple as the Saints secured maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five 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 second half.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of Pool Four on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a better start as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme 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 score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith put George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

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

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 Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts notched three tries in five minutes.

Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an outstanding day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rerun of last year'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 18 January.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, host Bristol next 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)