Saints produce superb showing as they bag bonus-point win against Bulls in Pretoria

Phil Dowson's men headed to South Africa and rolled up their sleeves to produce a battling showing that saw them pick up maximum points.

Tommy Freeman's second try of the match rounded things off as Saints made it 10 points from 10 in the Investec Champions Cup so far this season.

The black, green and gold were under plenty of pressure but they continually hit their hosts with sucker punches.

Saints even scored with Manny Iyogun in the sin bin at the end of the first half, and the away side had moved into a 22-7 lead before the Bulls bit back to cut the gap to a point.

But Saints would not be deterred and Rory Hutchinson brilliantly opened the door for Freeman to score the try that took the game away from the Bulls in their own backyard.

It was a memorable victory for a Northampton team who had travelled to South Africa on Monday night.

And Saints can now take real momentum back into the Gallagher Premiership as they prepare to travel to Saracens next weekend.

Dowson's side had headed to Loftus Versfeld Stadium on the back of an impressive 38-8 success against Castres, but they knew they were in for a scrap against the Bulls at altitude.

The home side had thought they had taken an early lead when Devon Williams went over out wide, but the TMO spotted an obstruction in the build-up and the try was chalked off.

Saints had been under huge early pressure at the scrum, giving away two penalties in quick succession, but the Bulls failed to capitalise after kicking to the corner.

Saints finally got out when Hutchinson kicked clear and earned his side a 50:22, but Bulls No.8 Cameron Hanekom was proving to be a menace at the breakdown.

The Bulls won a penalty at a Saints scrum and kicked to the corner again, but with the line in sight, Johan Goosen knocked on.

When called upon to defend, the home side were thwarting Saints at the breakdown, relieving the pressure with timely penalties.

But Saints were also showing some breakdown prowess as they displayed their own determination in defence against some big ball carriers.

The referee was losing patience with Saints at scrum time, telling skipper George Furbank his side needed to 'find a solution'.

The Bulls again kicked to the corner, but another obstruction cost them a try.

Still the penalties kept coming though, with Saints penalised for going off their feet at the breakdown as the heat continued to be cranked up by the hosts.

Saints suffered a big blow on the half-hour mark as Furbank was forced off with an arm injury, which left him using his shirt as a makeshift sling.

George Hendy was brought on and he made an almost immediate impact, picking up a fine offload from Fin Smith and diving over to notch the game's first points.

Smith missed a conversion he would have expected to make and Saints were soon behind as the Bulls finally found a way through what had been a resilient defence.

Marcell Coetzee went past Fraser Dingwall and eluded an attempted tap-tackle from Henry Pollock to score, with Goosen adding the extras to make it 7-5 to the hosts.

Saints threatened to respond when they won a scrum penalty and kicked to the corner, but they couldn't keep hold of the ball and the Bulls survived.

Saints suffered another blow just before half-time as Iyogun was sin-binned for what the referee felt had been an accumulation of infringements from the loosehead prop.

But after the Bulls lost the ball inside their own half, Saints pounced, with Alex Mitchell taking a quick tap penalty before eventually finding Juarno Augustus with a superb pass out wide.

Smith converted with the final kick of the half to hand Saints a 12-7 lead at the break.

The Bulls threatened after the restart as Willie le Roux tried to thread a kick through, with Williams chasing it, but Freeman managed to get back to reach the ball first.

Still the hosts came though, but Saints held firm with their 14 men, so much so that when Iyogun returned from the bin, the Bulls had failed to score a single point with their numerical advantage.

The Bulls thought they'd scored when Goosen chipped the ball over the defence and Canan Moodie and Le Roux chased it, but there was a knock-on and Saints survived.

The away side had been under siege from the start of the second half, desperate for some breathing space as they tried to find a way out of their own 22.

Saints sent on reinforcements and a man they had brought on at the break, Trevor Davison, won them a scrum penalty to help them get out.

Tom Pearson did some damage with some big carries before another moment of magic from Mitchell opened the door.

The scrum-half produced an incredible 50:22 and Saints used their attacking lineout to score as Freeman went over.

Smith converted, but the Bulls responded almost immediately as Dingwall couldn't collect the kick-off and the home side set Hanekom away from the scrum, with the No.8 using a little contact with the referee to confuse the Saints defence and skip in for the score.

Goosen converted but Saints had a big chance to hit back as they kicked to the corner, only for a mistake from the lineout to cost them dear.

Dingwall soon had to do some huge defensive work on his own try line as he raced across to prevent what looked likely to be a try in the corner.

But the Bulls did score with 10 minutes to go as the impressive Hanekom powered through for his second.

Goosen converted and the Saints lead was down to just a single point.

Saints soon won a penalty just inside the Bulls half and Smith slotted it superbly.

The fly-half was full of confidence and he attempted to land a long-range drop goal not long after, but it just went wide.

Saints were playing with real belief though and Hutchinson produced some sensational creativity to help his side bag the bonus-point try, delaying the pass before releasing Freeman down the right for a run-in.

Smith missed the conversion but Saints were nine points up with just two minutes to play.

And the Bulls could not respond again as the black, green and gold held firm before kicking the ball out to put the seal on an incredible away success.

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; 1. Gerhard Steenekamp, 2. Akker van der Merwe (Jan-hendrik Wessels 49), 3. Wilco Louw (Francois Klopper 49), 4. Ruan Vermaak (Deon Slabbert 24), 5. JF van Heerden, 6. Marcell Coetzee, 7. Elrigh Louw (c), 8. Cameron Hanekom.

Saints: 15. George Furbank (c) (George Hendy 30); 14. Tommy Freeman, 13. Fraser Dingwall, 12. Rory Hutchinson, 11. Ollie Sleightholme; 10. Fin Smith, 9. Alex Mitchell; 1. Manny Iyogun (Tarek Haffar 68), 2. Curtis Langdon, 3. Elliot Millar Mills (Trevor Davison 40); 4. Temo Mayanavanua (Chunya Munga 56), 5. Tom Lockett; 6. Alex Coles, 7. Henry Pollock (Tom Pearson 56), 8. Juarno Augustus (Angus Scott-Young 71).

Referee: Luc Ramos (France)