Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock scored the bonus point try inside an hour as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the latter period.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a yellow card to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a better start as they aim to improve on that this season.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the line.

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

Shortly after, Saints had their second as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the break.

Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the visitors.

That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the contact from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

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

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

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup resumes in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude 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, host Bristol 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)