Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints 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.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the bonus point 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 interval but a yellow card to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the second half.

International Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to go one better this season.

Pretoria's number ten Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock broke before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the line.

But an error from the winger 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.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Smith sent 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 given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the creator, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Northampton's third score.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Emmanuel Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the hosts notched three scores in five minutes.

Hendy completed his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rematch of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the pool stage with a home game against Scarlets on 18 January.

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