George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Demolish Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as the Saints made it maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a sin-binning to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton moved to the summit of Pool Four on superior points difference from defending champions 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 year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a better start as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away 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 the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put 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 failed to find touch with penalty kicks to reinvite pressure onto 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 perfectly weighted grubber kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Saints' third score.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when reviewed by the officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to secure the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three scores in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with twelve minutes left on the clock and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the group will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in the new year as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

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