George Furbank will captain Northampton Saints as knockout rugby returns to cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday (3 April, kick-off: 8pm), with the men in Black, Green and Gold hosting Castres Olympique in the Investec Champions Cup Round-of-16.
Saints reached the knockout stage of the competition for the third consecutive season thanks to a second-place finish in Pool 4, with wins over Section Paloise, Vodacom Bulls and Scarlets earning them a fifth-ranked seeding in the tournament’s last 16.
Friday’s match will mark the third meeting between the sides in the last twelve months, with the Top 14 outfit coming to Northampton twice in last season’s Champions Cup (in both the pool stage and quarter-finals) on Saints’ route to the Final.
Phil Dowson makes six changes to the line-up that downed Saracens at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the Gallagher PREM last weekend – with Danilo Fischetti, Craig Wright, JJ Van Der Mescht, Callum Chick, Anthony Belleau and Fraser Dingwall all coming into the starting line-up on Friday.
Centre Dingwall and fly-half Belleau start amongst Saints’ largely unchanged backs, with the duo partnering Tom Litchfield and Archie McParland – who combined for last weekend’s match-winning try – in Northampton’s midfield and half-backs respectively.
Furbank captains Northampton from fullback as Dowson sticks with the same back three that defeated Saracens, where James Ramm and Tommy Freeman start on the wings alongside the skipper.
Fischetti and Wright come into Saints’ front row at loosehead prop and hooker, joining tighthead prop Luke Green there against Castres, while Tom Lockett and Van Der Mescht make up Northampton’s engine room behind them.
Chick is the new face in the back row for Saints as he starts at No.8 alongside flankers Josh Kemeny and Henry Pollock to complete the pack.
Saints opt for a six-two bench against Castres, naming the likes of Curtis Langdon, Chunya Munga and Tom Pearson as forwards replacements, while Jonny Weimann is set to make his Champions Cup debut as he provides backs cover alongside Rory Hutchinson.
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS vs CASTRES OLYMPIQUE
Investec Champions Cup, Round-of-16
Friday 3 April, 2026
Kick-off: 8pm
15 George Furbank (c)
14 Tommy Freeman
13 Tom Litchfield
12 Fraser Dingwall
11 James Ramm
10 Anthony Belleau
9 Archie McParland
1 Danilo Fischetti
2 Craig Wright
3 Luke Green
4 Tom Lockett
5 JJ Van Der Mescht
6 Josh Kemeny
7 Henry Pollock
8 Callum Chick
Replacements:
16 Curtis Langdon
17 Tom West
18 Cleopas Kundiona
19 Ed Prowse
20 Chunya Munga
21 Tom Pearson
22 Jonny Weimann – Investec Champions Cup debut
23 Rory Hutchinson
Not available for selection:
Alex Coles, Trevor Davison, Sam Graham, George Hendy, Emmanuel Iyogun, Tom James, Henry Lumley, Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith, Edoardo Todaro and Charlie Ulcoq.
CASTRES TEAM TO FACE SAINTS:
15 Theo Chabouni, 14 Christian Ambadiang, 13 Vilimoni Botitu, 12 Jack Goodhue, 11 Vuate Karawalevu, 10 Enzo Herve, 9 Jeremy Fernandez; 1 Quentin Walcker, 2 Teddy Durand-Pradere, 3 Nicolas Corato, 4 Guillaume Ducat, 5 Florent Vanverberghe, 6 Baptiste Delaporte (c), 7 Tyler Ardron, 8 Abraham Papalii.
Replacements: 16 Pierre Colonna, 17 Lois Guerois-Galisson, 18 Aurelien Azar, 19 Gauthier Maravat, 20 Baptiste Cope, 21 Veresa Ramototabua, 22 Santiago Arata, 23 Geoffrey Palis
Referee: Craig Evans (Wal)
Assistant referees: Morne Ferreira (RSA) and Jonny MacKenzie (Sco)
No.4: Richard Gordon (Eng)
TMO: Marius Jonker (RSA)