Northampton 18 Castres 14:NORTHAMPTON GOT their campaign off to a nervy start with a somewhat fortunate 18-14 win over a lively Castres at Franklin's Gardens.

For parts of the match Castres were the better team and the home side can count themselves lucky to have come away winning after missing five kicks in the first half through Bruce Reihana and Shane Geraghty.

On a couple of occasions in the opening quarter Castres looked lively in attack but it was a shock and against the run of the play when they took the lead after 21 minutes. They moved the ball swiftly along the line with neat play from Pierre Bernard and flanker Ibrahim Diarra which culminated in Joe Tekori driving over from close range for the try.

With nine minutes to go before the interval Northampton finally got on the scoreboard. Castres lost a lineout in their own 22, allowing the home forwards to drive for the line and when the ball came back a clever blindside pass from Lee Dickson sent Reihana over. The wing missed his fourth kick with a difficult touchline attempt.

Cameron McIntyre restored the French lead with a neat drop goal but within 40 seconds of the restart the hosts were ahead. Geraghty ran to the blindside from a ruck 35 metres out. He fed Phil Dowson, whose splendid inside pass sent Ben Foden on a clear run to the line for a try which Geraghty converted.

Castres dominated the third quarter and two penalties from Bernard to one by Geraghty set up a tense finale but at last Northampton raised their game and replacement Stephen Myler knocked over the decisive penalty with three minutes to go.