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

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

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Henry Pollock scored the fourth try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the latter period.

The Bulls were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the break but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved decisive and they failed to register a point in the final forty minutes.

International Fin Smith contributed 10 points with the boot as Saints went top of Pool Four on superior points difference from holders Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this victory, following a 35-27 away win at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they look to go one better in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Henry Pollock made a break before feeding Ollie Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.

But an error from the winger let the Bulls back in as the ball was knocked on in contact, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show electric speed of his own to reply after 22 minutes.

Shortly after, Saints had their second as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.

Saints were dominant in both ball and field position and were being aided from the opposition fly-half Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the visitors.

That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the architect, darting inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before delivering a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for George Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the contact from the Saints replacement prop was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Northampton seized the opportunity of having the extra man to secure the bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three tries in five minutes.

George Hendy completed his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton 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 returns in January as Northampton head to Bordeaux. The Saints then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on 18 January.

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