George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Demolish Pretoria Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as the Saints secured maximum points from their first two European games with an eight-try thrashing of Pretoria.

Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Saints team ran riot in the second half.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to forward Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the second half.

England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux-Bègles with both sides on 10 points.

The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 away win at Pau last week, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a better start as they look to go one better this season.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before Saints took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to race clear to the line.

But an mistake from the winger 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 score after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Northampton had their second try as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

Northampton were on top in both ball and field position and were being given a helping hand from the opposition fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with clearing penalties to bring the pressure back on the away side.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to deceive the onrushing defense before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to collect his second try and Northampton's third score.

Pretoria forward Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was insistent he had been responding to a trip momentarily before by the Saints player but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when reviewed by the officials.

Saints capitalized of having the extra man to clinch the bonus point through Henry Pollock before Alex Coles and Sleightholme scored as the home team notched three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Season's Final Next for Saints

The top two teams in the group will face off in a rerun of last year's final when the tournament returns in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, host Bristol in their next outing before an away trip 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)