George Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Saints Rout Bulls

The young winger scored a hat-trick as the Saints secured a perfect ten points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock secured the bonus point try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the second half.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a sin-binning to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Fin Smith contributed 10 points from the tee as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Wolhuter missed an early penalty before Saints opened the scoring when Pollock broke before passing to 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 was knocked on in the tackle, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Mitchell at the base of a ruck and then Fin Smith put Hendy over in the corner to make it fourteen to five at the break.

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

That proved decisive 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 and Northampton's third.

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three tries in five 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 final minute.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool meet in a rerun of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a home game against Scarlets on 18 January.

The Bulls, who have one point from their opening two games, host 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)