Hendy grabs a hat-trick as Saints see off the Bulls at the Gardens

Phil Dowson's men backed up their bonus-point win at Section Paloise six days earlier with another maximum Investec Champions Cup haul against a Bulls side who eventually ran out of steam.

The South African side, missing the likes of Handre Pollard and Canan Moodie, were only 14-5 down at the break, having defended well for long periods.

But Saints put them to the sword during the second period, racking up six more tries as they made their way to another crucial European success at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

It was a third win in as many meetings for the black, green and gold against the Bulls, where were beaten twice by Saints in 2024.

This encounter had echoes of the quarter-final last year as the Bulls put up a fight at the start before eventually being overwhelmed by a Saints side that built huge momentum as the match went on.

Saints will now return to league action, at home to Sale Sharks on Saturday, putting the European action to bed until they take on the team that beat them in last season's Champions Cup final, Union Bordeaux Bègles, in France on the second weekend of January.

The black, green and gold knew they needed to put themselves in a strong position before that match as they welcomed a Bulls side who had been beaten at home by Bordeaux last weekend.

But it was the Bulls who had the first chance to notch some points as they won a breakdown penalty just inside their own half. They opted to go for goal, but Kade Wolhuter scuffed the kick and George Furbank cleared.

It was a scrappy start to the game overall, but Saints got into their stride just before the clock hit the 10-minute mark as the home side worked the numbers on the right, allowing Henry Pollock to release Ollie Sleightholme for a score.

Fin Smith kicked well from the touchline to take his team seven points ahead, but there was soon a scare as Hendy couldn't gather a loose ball and it was kicked ahead, just evading the onrushing Bulls player at the last.

Saints were the ones doing most of the attacking though, continually probing, but the Bulls were defending well, shutting down any gaps when they threatened to appear.

The black, green and gold were hit with a sucker punch on 23 minutes as Sleightholme lost the ball in contact close to halfway and Stravino Jacobs picked up the pieces before racing down the right to score.

Wolhuter missed the conversion, but the try seemed to give the Bulls some extra attacking belief as they made their way into the home 22 again before a poor lineout cost them possession.

Saints quickly returned to the front foot and after winning a penalty inside the away 22, they took a quick tap, piling on the pressure before Alex Mitchell and Smith combined to send Hendy over on the left.

Smith converted in expert fashion again to make it 14-5 and Saints continued to try to add to their lead before the break, but the Bulls held out.

The start to the second half was a fairly quiet one, until Hendy went racing down the left, charging into the Bulls 22, but again the South African side scrambled well and the move eventually came to an end with a JJ van der Mescht knock-on.

Saints, and the second half, really needed a spark to ignite it, and Smith provided it with a lovely grubber kick that Hendy dived on to score his second try of the match.

Smith again converted in tidy fashion, giving his side a nice buffer going into the final half an hour.

They had three tries to their name and were really keen to score again to deliver a crucial extra point.

Front-row reinforcements helped to deliver a rapid scrum penalty and the home fans lifted the noise levels under the ever-darkening skies.

Saints looked to have notched the bonus-point score when Alex Coles charged over, but referee Hollie Davidson pulled it back for a forward pass in the build-up.

The Bulls soon lost prop Alu Tshakweni to a yellow card after he kicked out at Manny Iyogun.

Saints quickly set about trying to pile the pressure on, but they couldn't quite keep hold of the ball on the left and the momentum was lost for the time being.

It didn't take long for Saints to make their move though as they secured a penalty, took it quickly and Pollock powered over for the bonus-point score.

Smith converted and Saints were now looking to have some fun, with van der Mescht delivering a delightful offload as part of a move that finished with a real flourish as Mitchell sent Coles over the line.

Smith converted and Saints quickly made a couple of changes as Coles and Mitchell came off to be replaced by Chunya Munga and Tom James.

The Bulls had put so much into their defensive effort but they were now struggling to contain Saints.

Pollock made a blistering break that had the South Africans scrambling, and after he was stopped just short, Saints worked the ball to Sleightholme, who produced a muscular finish under pressure.

Smith missed his first conversion of the match, but it wasn't going to matter as Saints now led 40-5 with more than 15 minutes still to play.

That meant there was still more than enough time left for Hendy to complete his hat-trick, and he did just that after being handed the ball by James on the left wing.

Smith struck the post with the conversion and Saints looked to have engineered another try with four minutes to play, but a forward pass put a stop to the celebrations.

However, the half-century was reached when the ball went loose in the Bulls 22 and Josh Kemeny dived over to add some extra gloss to the scoreline.

Saints: 15 George Furbank (c); 14 Ollie Sleightholme, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Fraser Dingwall (Toby Thame 58)), 11 George Hendy; 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell (Tom James 61); 1 Danilo Fischetti (Emmanuel Iyogun 50), 2 Craig Wright (Robbie Smith 50), 3 Trevor Davison (Cleopas Kundiona 40); 4 Alex Coles (Chunya Munga 61), 5 JJ Van Der Mescht (Ed Prowse 62); 6 Josh Kemeny, 7 Tom Pearson (Sam Graham 70), 8 Henry Pollock.

Vodacom Bulls: 15 Devon Williams; 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Harold Vorster (PA van Niekerk 62), 11 Stravino Jacobs; 10 Kade Wolhuter (Keegan Johannes 67), 9 Zak Burger (Embrose Papier 10); 1 Alu Tshakweni (Sti Sithole 65), 2 Akker van der Merwe (Juann Else 68), 3 Mornay Smith (Khuta Mchunu 54); 4 Cobus Wiese (Mpilo Gumede 67), 5 JF van Heerden; 6 Marcell Coetzee (c) (Nizaam Carr 40), 7 Reinhardt Ludwig, 8 Elrigh Louw.

Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)