Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their opening two European games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock secured the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the break but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the second half.

International Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they look to improve on that this season.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball slipped from his grasp in contact, allowing Pretoria winger 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 as fast passing from Mitchell at the ruck base and then 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 the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second and Northampton's 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 just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the officials.

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

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

Rerun of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rematch of last year's final when the tournament resumes in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux. The Saints then round off the group phase with a home game against the Scarlets on 18 January.

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