Following Northampton Saints’ 51-16 victory over Castres in the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup, here is how we scored Phil Dowson’s men from Franklin’s Gardens.
Northampton Saints player ratings v Castres
15 James Ramm: Reacted well to the positional shift, and just went about his business nicely. Always posed a threat ball-in-hand and made some decent inroads through the Castres defence as a result. 7
14 Tommy Freeman: Superb, yet again, as his Lions stock continues to rise. His desire to carry really came to the fore as he consistently popped up in different spaces and managed to break through the Castres defence multiple times as a result. Also notched a lovely try for his efforts. 8
13 Burger Odendaal: Gave Saints some serious punch in midfield, which gave them regular front-foot ball to play from. 6
12 Fraser Dingwall: His playmaking skills again came to the fore as he got Northampton attacking those wider channels where they thrive. Also instantly clicked back into gear in that axis with Fin Smith and George Furbank upon the full-back’s arrival from the bench. 6
11 George Hendy: Came off after just three minutes with a head injury. N/A
10 Fin Smith: Another incredibly mature performance from Smith, who again continues to push his name up the Lions ranks. He just seemed to know exactly what to do at exactly the right time to get his side on the front-foot and eventually run away with the game. 8
9 Alex Mitchell: A very busy showing from the scrum-half, who was right at the heart of this Saints. Mitchell notched a mammoth four assists across his stint, but on top of that he just injected so much pace into their attack and really combined well with the rest of the backs around him. 9
Back-row
8 Juarno Augustus: Industrious performance from the outgoing number eight. Carried well through traffic when called upon and got stuck into the defensive efforts too. 6
7 Henry Pollock: Quiet in comparison to his previous few outings, but still impressive. Got heavily involved in the battle up-front against a strong pack, and scored a nice brace for his efforts. 7
6 Josh Kemeny: Denied a classy try in the first-half, but again looked in pretty decent touch. Made consistent inroads ball-in-hand and importantly was more than willing to get himself involved in the attack. 7
Tight five
5 Alex Coles: Grabbed himself a nice try, but that was just reward for a proper workhorse performance. Always seemed to be popping up near the action, and made some good efforts on both sides of the ball as a result. 7
4 Temo Mayanavanua: Worked tirelessly for his side in the tight, which helped them get the better of their French opponents. Harshly sent to the sin-bin. 6
3 Trevor Davison: Scrummaged pretty well and made a decent dent around the park too, in keeping with recent outings. 6
2 Curtis Langdon: Nailed the basics to give his side a nice platform, and added a few deft flashes and a try for good measure. Overall, a good day’s work. 8
1 Emmanuel Iyogun: More than held his own in the scrum against a hungry Will Collier, and complimented that nicely with some good efforts around the park too. As mentioned in the week, he should be right in the mix for the England summer tour to the Americas, and a performance like this will please Steve Borthwick. 6
Replacements: Furbank by himself probably deserves an 8, as the full-back dazzled on his first game back from injury. The England star made an immediate impact on the Saints’ attack, nabbing a delicious assist with one of his first touches in the game and didn’t slow down from there with another assist to Langdon and later scoring one of his own. Unfortunately came off in the second-half, but otherwise a very good outing.
Elsewhere, the rest of the bench also made a good impact on things. Tom West and Elliot Millar-Mills made themselves busy, as did Rory Hutchinson. Tom Pearson also notched a lovely try late in the day. The bench should be very pleased with their evening’s work. 7
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/northampton-saints-player-ratings-v-castres-concern-for-england-returnee-despite-dazzling-display-while-superb-lions-hopefuls-impress-yet-again
