Saints book another Dublin semi-final date with Leinster after cruising past Castres

The black, green and gold, who had seen off Clermont Auvergne eight days earlier, were convincing winners again at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens on Saturday evening.

George Furbank, making his return from a broken arm, shone on his comeback as he etched his name on the scoresheet in his first appearance since December.

And Saints proved too fast and too strong for Castres, whose chances were hit by three yellow cards.

The Investec Champions Cup quarter-final victory means Phil Dowson's men march on to the final four, where they will again meet Leinster.

Saints were beaten 20-17 by Leinster in the semi-final at Croke Park last season.

This time they will travel to face the Irish giants at the Aviva Stadium, on the first weekend of May.

Saints knew that was the prize when they kicked off against Castres as Leinster had demolished Glasgow Warriors in Dublin on the previous evening.

And Dowson's men quickly set about setting up the repeat Dublin date, swarming all over Castres from the start.

However, Saints suffered an early blow when George Hendy made a dazzling run, which was halted by a big collision. Hendy was down for some time before being forced off, with a medic holding his left arm.

That brought Furbank into the game, and the Saints skipper made an almost immediate impact as he combined to incredible effect with Tommy Freeman, the duo sizzling in the sun as Freeman eventually finished the flowing move off.

Fin Smith easily converted to make it 7-0, but Castres got on the board soon after, winning a breakdown penalty just inside the Saints half and opting to go for goal, with Jeremy Fernandez slotting the kick in tidy fashion.

Footwork was becoming a theme of the day as Furbank's grubber opened the French door soon after, allowing Curtis Langdon to dribble with the ball before picking it up to score.

Smith missed the conversion but Saints were playing at a ferocious speed, just as they had against Clermont.

The handling was sublime, and the home side looked to have scored on the right again as Josh Kemeny went racing away, but Rémy Baget flew across to deny him.

However, Baget made head on head contact with Kemeny and Saints were given a penalty, though it should have been far more as referee Andrea Piardi decided there was a low degree of danger and it wasn't in the act of scoring, which it really seemed to be.

Saints soon added to their tally with a penalty following another spell of pressure in the away 22, but from the restart, Castres had a chance to respond.

Saints gave away a penalty inside their own half and after going to the corner, Castres put the pressure on the home line, with Fernandez eventually finding a way to get the ball down after picking up from the breakdown.

The scrum-half also converted and the gap was cut the just five points with 25 minutes played.

Castres were continue to give penalties away on a frequent basis though, and eventually they paid the price as Leone Nakarawa was shown a yellow card.

Saints soon punished the 14 men as they scored a well-worked try from a lineout, with Alex Coles producing a strong finish.

Smith missed the conversion and Castres threatened to respond, charging into the Saints 22 on a couple of occasions, but they were thwarted by breakdown steals from James Ramm and Alex Mitchell.

Castres did manage to cut the gap just before the break as Manny Iyogun was penalised for collapsing a maul, allowing Fernandez to notch three points.

Fernandez reduced the deficit further just three minutes into the second half as he slotted a penalty.

Saints refused to be concerned by their lead starting to ebb away though, and they soon flew forward, putting real pressure on Castres.

Furbank eventually made it count, scoring on his comeback after a good move that included some excellent handling from props Trevor Davison and Iyogun.

Smith converted and Furbank then had to do some fine work at the other end, making a hugely courageous try-saving tackle on No.8 Abraham Papalii, who was flying towards the home line.

Saints then rubbed salt in the wound as trademark razor-sharp running from Mitchell cut Castres apart before the scrum-half handed the ball to the onrushing Henry Pollock for the score.

Pollock dotted down and then bounced the ball off the ground in delight before Smith added the conversion to make it 34-16.

Things then got a bit fractious as Baget went flying into a breakdown and hit Pollock with a cheap shot, earning the Castres wing a yellow card.

Baget's actions sparked a scuffle as Castres players tried to pin down Juarno Augustus, and Temo Mayanavanua and Lois Guerois-Galisson joined Baget in the sin bin for their part in escalating the brawl.

Castres looked to have lost any composure and chance they had, and Saints kept piling on the pain.

Mitchell produced some magic to provide another try for Pollock, bamboozling the men in white with a couple of dummies before giving the pass for the flanker to run in.

Pollock faked to dot the ball down before actually doing it, winding Castres up, but the Saints fans were loving it as they watched Smith slot the conversion.

The game then really petered out before Saints finished with one final flourish, Tom Pearson cruising through the middle to score after taking a pass from Smith.

Smith converted to make it a half-century for the hosts, and that was pretty much that as Saints celebrated the excellent achievement of reaching back-to-back Champions Cup semi-finals.

Saints: 15. James Ramm; 14. Tommy Freeman, 13. Burger Odendaal, 12. Fraser Dingwall (c), 11. George Hendy (George Furbank (Rory Hutchinson 55); 10. Fin Smith, 9. Alex Mitchell (Tom James 70); 1. Emmanuel Iyogun (Tom West 56), 2. Curtis Langdon (Henry Walker 63), 3. Trevor Davison (Elliot Millar Mills 56); 4. Temo Mayanavanua (Tom Lockett 74), 5. Alex Coles; 6. Josh Kemeny, 7. Henry Pollock, 8. Juarno Augustus (Tom Pearson 63).

Castres Olympique: 15. Theo Chabouni; 14. Geoffrey Palis, 13. Vilimoni Botitu, 12. Jack Goodhue, 11. Rémy Baget; 10. Louis le Brun (Julien Dumora 65), 9. Jeremy Fernandez (Santiago Arata 54); 1. Quentin Walcker (Lois Guerois-Galisson 49), 2. Gaetan Barlot (Loris Zarantonello 49), 3. Will Collier (Aurelien Azar 49); 4. Gauthier Maravat, 5. Leone Nakarawa (Romain Macurdy 72); 6. Mathieu Babillot (Simon Meka 52), 7. Baptiste Delaporte, 8. Abraham Papali'i (Baptiste Cope 49).

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)