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

George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it a perfect ten points from their first two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a yellow card to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

England fly-half Smith added 10 points from the tee as Northampton went top of their pool on points difference from holders Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have hoped for a better start as they look to improve on that in this campaign.

Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Pollock broke before passing to Sleightholme who showed his pace to race clear to the try line.

But an mistake from Sleightholme let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Pretoria winger Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints 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 break.

Northampton were dominant in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from Bulls fly-half 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 architect, stepping inside to deceive the onrushing defense before delivering a sweet grubber kick over the line for George Hendy to collect his second and Saints' third score.

Bulls prop Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Emmanuel Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been reacting to a trip momentarily before by Iyogun but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the match officials.

Saints capitalized of having the numerical advantage to secure the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team registered three tries in five frantic minutes.

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny strolled in for the eighth try of an excellent day for Saints in the dying moments.

Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints

The top two teams in the pool will face off in a rematch of last year's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Saints travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a home game against the Scarlets on 18 January.

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