George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as the Saints made it a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

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

The visitors were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the break but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the line.

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Stravino Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break.

Saints were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That told after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot 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 Alulutho Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when reviewed by the officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the home team notched three tries in five frantic minutes.

Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an outstanding day for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

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