Saints beat Castres in thriller to book Champions Cup quarter-final spot

The black, green and gold had to mount a second-half comeback as they headed in at half-time 15-14 down, with Castres having initially flown into a 12-0 lead early on.

It proved to be a point-fest in the second period as the two teams slugged it out, with Saints' style and substance being tested by a Castres team saturated with power.

But eventually it was Saints who prevailed in the 13-try thriller as they delivered some stunning scores on a night when Castres were hit with three yellow cards, at one point going down to 13 men.

It was a tough 80 minutes at the office for the black, green and gold but their character and class eventually got them over the line to set up a last-eight tie next weekend.

If Bath win at home to Saracens on Saturday afternoon, Saints will travel to The Rec for the quarter-final, but if Saracens can spring a surprise, they would travel to the Gardens.

Saints will be purely focused on recovery in the next few days though as their encounter with Castres was truly energy-sapping for both sides.

The tone was set from the off as the two teams traded scrum penalties early on before Castres used a steady set piece to open Saints up.

Scrum-half Jeremy Fernandez showed great awareness and execution to spot the space and kick ahead for wing Christian Ambadiang to score.

Fernandez missed the conversion but Castres had the early lead and Saints were still trying to get their attacking game to click.

Castres, in contrast, were having no such issues, and after Archie McParland saw a pass picked off inside the away half, the men in light blue flew away down the left, moving the ball well before Theo Chabouni dived over for his side's second score.

Fernandez made no mistake with the conversion on this occasion, giving his side a 12-0 lead inside the opening 13 minutes.

Saints thought they'd responded with a slick move that resulted in James Ramm diving over on the left, but referee Craig Evans and TMO Marius Jonker came to the decision that Ambadiang had bundled Ramm into touch before he could get the ball down.

Saints didn't have to wait long to get on the scoreboard though as a brilliant break from Josh Kemeny and fine support play from McParland caused Castres all sorts of problems, forcing Ambadiang into a desperate last-ditch high tackle that earned him a yellow card and Saints a penalty try.

Castres were bringing a brutal approach to proceedings and they could have been hit with a red card when Guillaume Ducat poleaxed Henry Pollock at a breakdown.

Referee Evans decided it was only a yellow as Ducat's shoulder, with his arm tucked, made contact with Pollock's shoulder rather than head, but the force that was used and the level of danger meant it could have been deserving of harsher punishment.

Castres were down to 13 men, but they still kept coming, and they moved eight points ahead thanks to a penalty from Fernandez.

Saints were eager to get something going to make the most of their numerical advantage and after Henry Pollock won a penalty, they kicked to the corner.

The hosts worked the ball well and Danilo Fischetti turned on the power to get his team over the line.

Anthony Belleau converted before Ambadiang returned to the field, and Saints were dealt a blow when Ramm was forced off injured, just seconds after engineering a break that ended when Pollock's pass was slightly behind Tom Litchfield and he knocked on.

Ducat returned to the field with Castres still a point up, meaning they had managed to hold their lead throughout the time when they had been men down.

It was a truly frantic affair and Saints threatened to move ahead when McParland went racing away down the right, but Castres again scrambled well to stay ahead.

The French side retained their advantage into half-time, despite Saints hammering loudly on the door, time and again.

But it didn't take long for the black, green and gold to finally go ahead in the second half as some fine work from George Furbank and Litchfield opened the door for the influential Kemeny to sprint over the line.

Belleau converted and Saints were 21-15 up, but they didn't deal with the restart, putting them under immediate pressure before Luke Green got over the ball to win a penalty.

Saints looked to kick on, and kick on they did as Dingwall, Furbank and Tommy Freeman showed their international class, combining for a trademark try on the right, with Freeman applying the finish.

Belleau converted brilliantly from the touchline, but Saints gave Castres an immediate way back into the game as McParland's pass was picked off by Tyler Ardron, who dived over in delight.

Boos rang around as the home fans felt Ardron was offside, but the try was given, and Castres were capitalising on Saints mistakes.

McParland fumbled close to halfway and Castres were away again, forcing Pollock to race back and ground the ball behind his own line.

Castres wasted little time in notching a score though as Vuate Karawalevu came flying forward and left the Saints defence with little chance.

Enzo Herve converted and it looked like things were truly unravelling for Saints when Karawalevu picked off a pass inside his own half and sprinted in to dot down.

But the referee pulled play back for a knock-on from the kick-off and Saints survived.

The hosts made the most of their reprieve as Furbank cut a lovely line and turned on the turbos to beat the away defence to the line to score.

Belleau converted to make it 35-27 and Litchfield soon had to do some good defensive work to push Baptiste Cope into touch on the Saints left.

In what was a real see-saw affair, Saints were soon back on the front foot, with some fine offloading from Litchfield opening the door for McParland, who did superbly to skate away and score.

Belleau converted and there was still 15 minutes left in a truly enthralling contest.

Castres, of course, would not go quietly, and they turned on the power again from close range as centre Vilimoni Botitu powered over, allowing Herve to convert.

Saints' lead was again down to eight points and there was still 12 minutes to go.

Castres were hit by more yellow peril when Veresa Ramototabua's high tackle on McParland landed him a spell in the sin bin.

And Saints were quick to capitalise as Belleau fired a long pass to the right for Dingwall, who delivered a try under real pressure on the right.

Belleau converted superbly again to make it 49-34 but Castres kept coming and Ambadiang notched a score as he raced away with seconds remaining.

Herve converted and there was still time for the restart, but Saints prevented any further Castres threat, bringing the curtain down on a dramatic night at the Gardens.

Saints: 15 George Furbank (c); 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Tom Litchfield, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 James Ramm (Rory Hutchinson 28); 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Archie McParland (Jonny Weimann 74); 1 Danilo Fischetti (Tom West 58), 2 Craig Wright (Curtis Langdon 58), 3 Luke Green (Cleopas Kundiona 50); 4 Tom Lockett (Chunya Munga 75), 5 JJ van der Mescht (Ed Prowse 50); 6 Josh Kemeny, 7 Henry Pollock, 8 Callum Chick (Tom Pearson 68).

Castres Olympique: 15 Theo Chabouni (Santiago Arata 53); 14 Christian Ambadiang, 13 Vilimoni Botitu, 12 Jack Goodhue, 11 Vuate Karawalevu; 10 Enzo Herve, 9 Jeremy Fernandez; 1 Quentin Walcker (Lois Guerois-Galisson 53), 2 Teddy Durand-Pradere (Pierre Colonna 66), 3 Nicolas Corato (Aurelien Azar 48); 4 Guillaume Ducat, 5 Florent Vanverberghe; 6 Baptiste Delaporte (c), 7 Tyler Ardron (Baptiste Cope 53), 8 Abraham Papalii (Veresa Ramototabua 48).

Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)