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

George Hendy bagged a triple as Northampton secured maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of the Bulls.

Sleightholme crossed twice and Henry Pollock scored the bonus point try before the hour mark as a commanding Saints team cut loose in the second half.

The visitors were within touching distance with the score 14-5 at the interval but a sin-binning to forward 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 contributed 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux with the two teams on 10 points.

The nature of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Saints could not have asked for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that in this campaign.

Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter failed with an early shot at goal before the hosts took the lead when Henry Pollock made a break before passing to Sleightholme who showed his pace to sprint away to the try line.

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

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

Saints 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 visitors.

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

Bulls prop Alulutho Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a tripping offense on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Northampton substitute was ruled accidental when reviewed by the officials.

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

George Hendy completed his hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Northampton in the dying moments.

Rematch of Last Year's Final Next for Saints

The leading pair in the pool meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in January as Northampton travel to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then round off the pool stage with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.

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