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

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton secured maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning 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.

International Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints went top of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball was knocked on 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, Northampton had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put Hendy over to make it fourteen to five 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 reinvite pressure onto 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 sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second try and Northampton's third.

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

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme scored as the hosts registered three scores in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent day for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the group phase with a home game against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Pretoria 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)