🔗 Share this article George Hendy Scores Three as Eight-Try Saints Rout Pretoria Bulls Northampton's George Hendy also scored a try in last week's win against Pau. Investec Champions Cup Pool Four Northampton Saints (14) 50 Tries: Sleightholme 2, Hendy 3, Pollock, Coles, Kemeny Cons: Smith 5 Pretoria Bulls (5) 5 Tries: Jacobs George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls. Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the second half. The Bulls were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half. England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points. Fin Smith kicked 10 points in a star performance. The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that in this campaign. Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try 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 Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes. Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break. Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side. That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third score. Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials. Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three tries in five minutes. George Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute. Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints The leading pair in the group meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th. The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome Bristol in their next outing before traveling to 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)
Northampton's George Hendy also scored a try in last week's win against Pau. Investec Champions Cup Pool Four Northampton Saints (14) 50 Tries: Sleightholme 2, Hendy 3, Pollock, Coles, Kemeny Cons: Smith 5 Pretoria Bulls (5) 5 Tries: Jacobs George Hendy scored a hat-trick as Northampton made it maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try thrashing of the Bulls. Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice and Pollock scored the fourth try inside an hour as a commanding Northampton side ran riot in the second half. The Bulls were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a sin-binning to prop Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a unnecessary trip proved very costly and they did not score a point in the second half. England fly-half Fin Smith added 10 points from the tee as Saints moved to the summit of their pool on superior points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points. Fin Smith kicked 10 points in a star performance. The nature of this victory, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Section Paloise previously, means last year's losing finalists Northampton could not have hoped for a more ideal beginning as they aim to improve on that in this campaign. Pretoria's number ten Kade Wolhuter failed with an early penalty before the hosts opened the scoring when Pollock made a break before passing to Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try 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 Jacobs to kick on and show electric speed of his own to score after 22 minutes. Ten minutes later, Saints had their second as quick hands from Alex Mitchell at the ruck base and then Smith put George Hendy over in the corner to make it 14-5 at the break. Northampton were dominant in possession and territory and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who failed to find touch with clearing penalties to reinvite pressure onto the away side. That told after 48 minutes when Fin Smith was again the creator, darting inside to wrong-foot the onrushing defense before sending a sweet left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second and Northampton's third score. Pretoria forward Tshakweni was then shown a yellow card for a trip on Iyogun. Tshakweni was adamant he had been responding to a trip just prior by Iyogun but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at by the match officials. Northampton capitalized of having the numerical advantage to clinch the try bonus point through Pollock before Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme crossed as the hosts registered three tries in five minutes. George Hendy wrapped up his triple with twelve minutes left on the clock and Kemeny walked over for the eighth try of an excellent afternoon for Saints in the final minute. Rerun of Last Season's Final Awaits Saints The leading pair in the group meet in a rerun of the previous season's final when the tournament returns in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. The Saints then round off the group phase with a fixture at home against Scarlets on January 18th. The Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome Bristol in their next outing before traveling to 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)