Saints focus on present rather than the past as they host Castres again

The black, green and gold defeated Castres 38-8 during the pool stages and 51-16 in the quarter-finals, with both matches taking place at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

The two teams will square up again at the Gardens this week as they bid to secure victory in the round of 16.

And Dowson has warned his players to only focus on the present rather than the past as they look to set up a tie against the winners of Bath's clash with Saracens.

"We've got to be careful of not being sucked into what happened last season, beating them (Castres) twice here," the Saints boss said.

"I think they're a much different side, a more attacking side, a much more threatening side and they rested a few people for their game in the Top 14 last weekend (a 49-17 Castres win at home to Montauban) so they will be gunning for this tournament and gunning for us. We kind of know what that looks like from the past couple of weeks.

"We're really looking forward to it. It's a proper European clash, Friday night under the lights at the Gardens is always exciting and we expect a good atmosphere."

There was certainly a good atmosphere at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last Saturday as a travelling army of Saints supporters made themselves heard in the 21-17 win against Saracens.

"Even from the warm-up with Dizzee Rascal, it was a very loud stadium," Dowson said.

"It was a good thing for those internationals to come back into, to be excited about that.

"We want to go to different places and play. I was slightly envious of Gloucester and Leicester at Villa Park.

"I've been lucky enough to play at Wembley, to coach at St James’ Park and I hadn't been to the Tottenham Stadium so it was hugely impressive and I loved it.

"As always, huge travelling support for us, and I think they probably enjoyed that day out in terms of the entertainment on offer."