Preview: Northampton v Castres

Editor

Northampton have promoted Lee Dickson to starting scrum-half for Friday's Heineken Cup meeting with Castres at Franklin's Gardens.

Northampton Saints have promoted Lee Dickson to starting scrum-half for their final Pool clash, against Castres.

Dickson replaces Kahn Fotuali'i at the base while Fa'atoina Autagavaia is also in the starting XV, coming in for Tom Collins in the full-back slot.

The rest of the team remains unchanged by director of rugby Jim Mallinder, with the Saints hoping to sneak into the quarter-final stages.

Meanwhile, Castres have named a strong-looking squad that, albeit without Rémi Talès, features Marcel Garvey, Remi Grosso and Brice Dulin.

Daniel Kirkpatrick wears the number ten jersey in Talès' absence while Rory Kockott will hope to come off the bench after recovering from injury.

Antonie Claassen is also fit for bench duty.

The teams:

Northampton Saints: 15 Fa'atoina Autagavaia, 14 Jamie Elliott, 13 George Pisi, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 George North, 10 Steve Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Samu Manoa, 7 Tom Wood, 6 Calum Clark, 5 Christian Day, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Alex Waller.
Replacements: 16 Mikey Haywood, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Sam Dickinson, 20 Phil Dowson, 21 Kahn Fotuali'i, 22 Glenn Dickson, 23 Ken Pisi.

Castres: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Marcel Garvey, 13 Romain Cabannes (c), 12 Remi Lamerat, 11 Remi Grosso, 10 Daniel Kirkpatrick, 9 Julien Tomas, 8 Piula Faasalele, 7 Jannie Bornman, 6 Mathieu Babillot, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Christophe Samson, 3 Anton Peikrishvili, 2 Marc-Antoine Rallier, 1 Yannick Forestier.
Replacements: 16 Saimone Taumoepeau, 17 Antonie Claassen, 18 Mihaita Lazar, 19 Benjamin Desroche, 20 Yannick Caballero, 21 Rory Kockott, 22 Paul Bonnefond, 23 Pierre-Gilles Lakafia.

Date: Friday 17th January
Venue: Franklin's Gardens
Kick-off: 20:00 GMT
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ire)
Assistant referees: David Wilkinson, Michael Black (both Ire)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ire)