Northampton set up a repeat of last season’s Investec Champions Cup semi-final against Leinster with a 51-16 rout of Castres.
It was a good day for the English side but suffered the setback of a George Furbank injury. The fullback has been out since December because of a fractured right arm but having stepped off the bench to run in a try, set up two more and save one with a crucial tackle, he was forced off in the 56th minute in obvious discomfort.
His departure came at a time when Saints were extinguishing the dying embers of Castres’ resistance at Franklin’s Gardens, Henry Pollock doing the damage with two tries that were a product of Alex Mitchell’s brilliance in attack.
Mitchell’s creative spark earned him the man of the match award while his England team-mate Tommy Freeman inevitably scored to extend his recent streak to 10 tries in the last eight games.
Northampton only led 20-13 at the interval despite dominating the quarter-final but they eventually pulled cleared to dispatch French opponents for a second successive weekend, clearing their path to Dublin for their Leinster grudge match on the weekend of May 3-4.
Furbank held his right arm gingerly as he left the field and he probably played much longer than expected given the excellent George Hendy was forced off injured in only the fourth minute.
Furbank’s first meaningful act was to link with Freeman down the right, resulting in a well-taken try for his England colleague.
The full-back’s grubber, combined with a kind bounce, presented Curtis Langdon with an easy score as Saints extended their lead and only a foot in touch prevented Josh Kemeny adding a third with referee Andrea Piardi rejecting a reasonable penalty try claim.
Castres had barely fired a shot and were being controlled in every department, but they were the next to score with scrum-half Jeremy Fernandez burrowing over from close range.
The fightback was temporarily halted when Alex Coles crossed from a line-out just moments after opposite number Leone Nakarawa had been sent to the sin-bin for killing the ball.
Successive Castres attacks were pick-pocketed as Northampton scrambled to protect their whitewash and they then saw openside Pollock peel himself off the floor following a bit hit from Louis le Brun.
Fernandez’s boot was keeping the French club in touch and when he landed his third penalty, Saints needed a response to stop the nerves settling in and they duly delivered with several purposeful carries ending with Furbank crashing over.
The fullback then made a try-saving tackle on number eight Abraham Papali’i and in the 48th minute there was daylight between the rivals when a sharp break from Mitchell was finished by Pollock.
Space opened up on the pitch when Piardi sent home lock Temo Mayanavanua and Castres’ Remy Baget and Lois Guerois-Galisson to the sinbin following a flashpoint centring around Pollock at the breakdown.
The Mitchell-Pollock combination took advantage of the extra man for Saints’ sixth try, although the move was all about the vision of their scrum-half, before Tom Pearson completed the rout.
