George Hendy ran in four tries as Gallagher Premiership leaders Northampton confirmed their place in the play-offs with a 94-33 rout of Bristol. Northampton Saints scored 14 of the 19 tries and recorded the most first-half points scored by any team in Premiership history (61), ultimately falling just short of scoring a century of points.

The game started with Northampton striking just over three minutes in, as Henry Pollock's long pass led to Hendy scoring down the left. Bristol quickly leveled the score when Harry Thacker squeezed over, but Northampton retook the lead swiftly with a try from Rory Hutchinson.

The hosts had a third try after 11 minutes when a loose pass led to Callum Chick scoring. Bristol soon narrowed the gap to five points at 19-14, but their hopes of a comeback were dashed when Kalaveti Ravouvou was sin-binned for deliberately knocking on George Furbank's pass inside his own 22.

Northampton capitalized, scoring several more tries, including Alex Coles' bonus point try and Archie McParland's effort. Hendy's ball set up Furbank for another try before half an hour had passed. The second half saw Hendy complete his hat-trick before scoring his fourth, completing the rout.

Bristol's semi-final hopes now look in tatters as they suffered a record league defeat, falling four points behind fourth-placed Exeter ahead of their match against Harlequins on Saturday.