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
The young winger scored a hat-trick as Northampton secured maximum points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup games with an eight-try hammering of Pretoria.
Ollie Sleightholme scored two tries and Pollock secured the fourth try inside an hour as a dominant Saints team cut loose in the latter period.
The Bulls were within touching distance with the score fourteen-five at the interval but a yellow card to forward Tshakweni in the 53rd minute for a needless trip proved very costly and they failed to register a point in the second half.
England fly-half Smith added 10 points with the boot as Northampton went top of their pool on points difference from defending champions Bordeaux-Bègles with the two teams on 10 points.
The manner of this win, coming after a 35-27 victory on the road at Pau previously, means last season's runners-up Northampton could not have asked for a better start 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 Pollock made a break before feeding Sleightholme who demonstrated his speed to sprint away to the try line.
But an mistake from the winger allowed the Bulls back into the game as the ball slipped from his grasp in the tackle, allowing Bulls wing Jacobs to hack the ball forward and show blistering pace of his own to score after 22 minutes.
Ten minutes later, Saints had their second try as quick hands from Mitchell at the ruck base and then Fin Smith sent George Hendy over to make it fourteen to five at the break.
Saints were on top in both ball and field position and were being aided from Bulls fly-half Kade Wolhuter who twice missed touch with penalty kicks to bring the pressure back on the away side.
That proved decisive after 48 minutes when Smith was again the architect, stepping inside to wrong-foot the advancing defence before sending a perfectly weighted left-footed kick over the line for Hendy to grab his second try and Saints' third.
Bulls prop Tshakweni was then sin-binned for a trip on Iyogun. The prop was adamant he had been reacting to a trip just prior by the Saints player but the incident from the Saints replacement prop was ruled accidental when looked at 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 hosts registered three scores in five minutes.
George Hendy wrapped up his triple with 12 minutes remaining and Josh Kemeny walked over for the eighth and final try of an outstanding day for Saints in the final minute.
The top two teams in the group will face off in a rematch of the previous season's final when the tournament resumes in the new year as Northampton head to Bordeaux-Bègles. Northampton then conclude the group phase with a fixture at home against the Scarlets on January 18th.
The Pretoria Bulls, who have a single point from two matches, welcome Bristol in their next outing before an away trip face Pau.
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)
Referee: Hollie Davidson (Sco)
Assistant referees: Rob McDowell (Sco) and Dave Sutherland (Sco)
TMO: Mike Adamson (Sco)
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