Henry Pollock's Northampton Saints put Bulls to the sword
Northampton made it two wins from two in Pool 4 as they crushed South African outfit Bulls 50-5 at cinch Stadium.
George Hendy finished with a hat-trick of tries and Ollie Sleightholme crossed twice in what became a one-sided encounter after Saints edged the first half 14-5.
Henry Pollock, Alex Coles and Josh Kemeny also touched down while Fin Smith landed five conversions.
Sleightholme opened the scoring after nine minutes but his error allowed Stravino Jacobs to reply with Bulls’ only try of the afternoon.
Hendy put the hosts back in charge with scores either side the break and the Bulls’ hopes of recovering were hit when prop Alulutho Tshakweni was sin-binned for a trip.
Pollock crossed to secure the bonus point and Coles added another before Sleightholme grabbed his second and Hendy completed his treble. Kemeny brought up the half-century in the last minute.
Elsewhere, Toulon came out on top over Bath in an entertaining nine-try contest and took a 45-34 victory in the Investec Champions Cup at Stade Mayol.
The result means all six teams in Pool Two have a win and a loss to their name after their first two matches but Bath’s bonus point means they top the table with six points, with the other sides on five.
Finn Russell slotted two penalties either side of Brian Alainu’uese’s try which gave Toulon a 7-6 lead.
Mateo Garcia kicked three points for the hosts following a ruck infringement but Bath went ahead through Ted Hill with their first try of the game before Garcia knocked over his second penalty to make it 13-13.
Toulon went eight points to the good when Juan Ignacio Brex finished off after Kyle Sinckler’s powerful run, that was before Garcia kicked his third penalty of the game – but back came Bath again when Russell’s delayed pass allowed Santi Carreras to cross the whitewash.
Sinckler’s powerful run proved troublesome again in Toulon’s next try as Gael Drean picked a line to race clear and re-establish the French side’s eight point lead but Bath were not going away themselves, Arthur Green dotted down to bring the deficit back to one.
Toulon got their try bonus point through Lewis Ludlam but Max Ojomoh’s short pass let Louie Hennessey cut the gap to four points for Bath before another penalty and Teddy Baubigny’s try finished things off in the French side’s favour.
Rugby’s best of the best, ranked by experts. Check out our list of the Top 100 Men's Rugby Players 2025 and let us know what you think!
