Northampton Saints v Castres Olympique: Big match preview

Venue: cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton

Date and kick-off time: Saturday, April 12, 2025, 5.30pm

Weather forecast: 18c, cloudy

Live television coverage: Premier Sports

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)

Assistant referees: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy) and Morne Ferreira (South Africa)

No.4: Mike Hudson (England)

TMO: Stefano Roscini (Italy)

Saints: 15. James Ramm; 14. Tommy Freeman, 13. Burger Odendaal, 12. Fraser Dingwall (c), 11. George Hendy; 10. Fin Smith, 9. Alex Mitchell; 1. Emmanuel Iyogun, 2. Curtis Langdon, 3. Trevor Davison; 4. Temo Mayanavanua, 5. Alex Coles; 6. Josh Kemeny, 7. Henry Pollock, 8. Juarno Augustus.

Replacements: 16. Henry Walker, 17. Tom West, 18. Elliot Millar Mills, 19. Tom Lockett, 20. Tom Pearson, 21. Tom James, 22. Rory Hutchinson, 23. George Furbank.

Castres Olympique: 15. Theo Chabouni; 14. Geoffrey Palis, 13. Vilimoni Botitu, 12. Jack Goodhue, 11. Rémy Baget; 10. Louis le Brun, 9. Jeremy Fernandez; 1. Quentin Walcker, 2. Gaetan Barlot, 3. Will Collier; 4. Gauthier Maravat, 5. Leone Nakarawa; 6. Mathieu Babillot, 7. Baptiste Delaporte, 8. Abraham Papali'i.

Replacements: 16. Loris Zarantonello, 17. Lois Guerois-Galisson, 18. Aurelien Azar, 19. Simon Meka, 20. Romain Macurdy, 21. Baptiste Cope, 22. Santiago Arata, 23. Julien Dumora.

Not available for Saints selection: Emeka Atuanya, Sam Graham, George Makepeace-Cubitt, Archie McParland, Toby Thame, Ollie Sleightholme, Robbie Smith.

Most recent meeting: Saturday, December 7, 2024: Saints 38 Castres Olympique 8 (Investec Champions Cup pool stages)

Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson: "It was a hurricane and pretty dreadful conditions when they last came here. Only two players that started against us in that game started (in the round of 16 win) against Benetton last weekend so we've played against Castres but I'm not sure we've played against the Castres. It's bound to be a much different affair on Saturday evening. We talked to people who know the Top 14 really well and what they say about Castres is character, toughness, never-say-die attitude. You saw that in spades in their performance last week. Castres will try to slow us down. We always want to play fast and we always want to make sure we find space, whether that's wide, in front of us or behind the line so nothing will change in how we want to play, it's just about how Castres are going to try to deal with that.”

Opposition dangerman: Rémy Baget knows where the try-line is and the winger will look to trouble Saints on Saturday evening.

Tom Vickers’ prediction: Castres certainly won’t go down without a fight, but Saints are finally able to name an unchanged team this weekend and they will hope that consistency pays dividends. Saints 37 Castres 25.