The Northampton Saints celebrated their first Investec Champions Cup visit to Africa with a 30-21 bonus-point win over the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday.
A 31-degree, high-altitude cauldron awaited the Northampton Saints in Pretoria for the opener of Investec Champions Cup Round 2 Matchday 2 and it was the Vodacom Bulls, more accustomed to the conditions, who started off the better.
Determined to prove their worth in this competition from the get-go, the Bulls were soon in front on the scoreboard. But after a TMO decision, a forward pass meant the Saints were lucky to find themselves back at 00-00.
The Saint's defence remained watertight despite the Bulls' pressure, however, replacement George Hendy soon resigned Saints’ fans’ woes to history as his fresh legs powered him through a hole in the Bulls defence to touch down for the tie’s opener.
This was like red rag to a bull and, after having dominated the afternoon’s scrums thanks to their heavier pack, the hosts’ advantage soon paid off, immediately striking back down the other end courtesy of Marcell Coetzee.
But Saints were certainly in the mood for matching the hosts’ scoring habits and, down a man due to a yellow sin bin offence, Northampton’s Augustus was the man to breach the Bulls’ back line to force the visitors into the lead, 12-07 going into the halftime break.
The Bulls continued their "dominance" at the start of the second half and following a second disallowed try by the Bulls, Northampton struck back with a converted penalty by Fin Smith and try by Tommy Freeman, which was converted by Smith to extend the visitors lead to 22-07.
Once again the Bulls struck back when Cameron Hanekom picked up the ball behind a dominant scrum to score the Bulls' second try and cut the Saints' lead to 22-14 with twenty minutes of action left.
Hanekom copied his first try from the back of the scrum, however, this time from the Saints' ten-meter line to reduce the Sainst lead to just one point following a conversion by Johan Goosen.
The drama was not over yet and a penalty conversion by Fin Smith two minutes later extended the visitors' lead to 25-21.
With three minutes to go the Saints struck down the left side and Tommy Freeman scored his second and the Saints' bonus-point try to secure a 30-21 win.
Scorers:
Vodacom Bulls: Tries: Marcell Coetzee, Cameron Hanekom (2). Conversions: Johan Goosen (3).
Northampton Saints: Tries: George Hendy, Juarno Augustus, Tommy Freeman (2). Conversions: Fin Smith (2). Penalty: Fin Smith (2).
Teams:
Vodacom Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 David Kriel, 11 Devon Williams, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Elrigh Louw (c), 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp. Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Deon Slabbert, 20 Kuyenzeka Xaba, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Boeta Chamberlain, 23 Stedman Gans.
Northampton Saints: 15 George Furbank (c), 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Fraser Dingwall, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Henry Pollock, 6 Alex Coles, 5 Tom Lockett, 4 Temo Mayanavanua, 3 Elliot Millar-Mills, 2 Curtis Langdon, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun. Replacements: 16 Craig Wright, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Chunya Munga, 20 Angus Scott-Young, 21 Tom Pearson, 22 Archie McParland, 23 George Hendy.