Hendy Hat-Trick as Eight-Try Northampton Hammer Bulls

The young winger bagged a triple as Northampton secured maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls.

Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock scored the bonus point try before the hour mark as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The Bulls were still in the game with the score 14-5 at the interval but a yellow card to prop Alulutho Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved decisive and they did not score a point in the final forty minutes.

International Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with both sides on 10 points.

The manner of this win, following a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau last week, means last year's losing finalists Saints could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter missed an early shot at goal before Saints opened the scoring when Henry Pollock broke before passing to Ollie Sleightholme who showed his pace 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 the tackle, 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 as fast passing from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith sent Hendy over to make it 14-5 at the half-time whistle.

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

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

Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was insistent he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled unintentional when looked at by the match officials.

Saints seized the opportunity of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Henry Pollock before Coles and Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three tries in five minutes.

Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Kemeny strolled in for the eighth and final try of an outstanding afternoon for Northampton in the final minute.

Rerun of Last Year's Final Awaits Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the Investec Champions Cup returns in January as Saints head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th.

The Bulls, who have a single point from their opening two games, welcome Bristol 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)