Preview: Northampton v Castres

Northampton are boosted by the return of England duo Chris Ashton and Dylan Hartley for their Heineken Cup clash with Castres on Friday

Northampton are boosted by the return of England duo Chris Ashton and Dylan Hartley for their Heineken Cup clash with Castres on Friday.

Brian Mujati and Tom Wood also come back into the side from that which beat Exeter last week, the latter making his first ever HEC appearance.

And Director of Rugby Jim Mallinder says that the Saints players are looking forward to taking part in the 2010/11 competition.

Northampton go into Europe's elite competition with four wins under their belt from their five Aviva Premiership matches played so far this season.

And Mallinder says that playing against new opposition has invigorated the playing squad.

“Playing in Europe gives you the opportunity to come up against new sides, and this is what we will be doing when we play Castres tomorrow night,” Mallinder said this week.

“It has given the players something new to focus on, as Castres will pose us different problems to what we have faced in the Premiership so far.

“They have beaten some big teams like Toulouse this season, and their coaches have put together a very strong outfit. They have some big ball carriers in the back row and a fast back line that likes to move the ball.

“We have been working hard on every aspect of our game this week, and everyone in the squad has put in the effort to try and get selection in the team. The Heineken Cup is a great competition that all the players want to play in.”

Meanwhile, it is something of a second-string starting line-up named by Castres for their opening trip to the East Midlands as international trio Marc Andreu, Benjamin Kayser and Seremaia Bai settle for places on the replacements bench.

Sébastien Tillous-Borde and Chris Masoe are expected to be key from the base for Laurent Travers and Laurent Labit's side, who are currently sitting tenth in the Top 14.

The teams:

Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 James Downey, 11 Bruce Reihana, 10 Shane Geraghty, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Tom Wood, 6 Phil Dowson, 5 Christian Day, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Dylan Hartley (capt), 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements: 16 Brett Sharman, 17 Regardt Dreyer, 18 Euan Murray, 19 Calum Clark, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Ryan Powell, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Joe Ansbro.

Castres: 15 Pierre Bernard, 14 Romain Martial, 13 Pierre-Manuel Garcia, 12 Romain Cabannes, 11 Vincent Inigo, 10 Cameron McIntyre, 9 Sébastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Chris Masoe, 7 Yannick Caballero, 6 Ibrahim Diarra, 5 Joe Tekori, 4 Scott Murray, 3 Daniel Saayman, 2 Mathieu Bonello, 1 Yannick Forestier.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Michaël Coetzee, 18 Anton Peikrishvili, 19 Matthias Rolland, 20 Jannie Bornman, 21 Thomas Sanchou, 22 Seremaia Bai, 23 Marc Andreu.

Date: Friday, October 8
Kick-off: 20:00 BST
Venue: Franklin's Gardens
Referee: John Lacey
Assistant referees: Leo Colgan, Darragh McCormack
Television match official: Marshall Kilgore