"Under No Illusions" – Northampton's Curtis Langdon expects unique Castres challenge for Champions Cup quarter final

04/10/2025 04:22 AM

By Tom Harrington

Northampton Saints will host Castres Olympique in the Investec Champions Cup quarter-final, this Saturday at Franklin’s Gardens.

The two sides previously clashed in the pool stages in December, which saw Saints secure a dominant 38-8 victory on home turf. However only two Castres players that were victorious against Benneton in the round of 16 last weekend, played against Saints back in December, that being fullback Theo Chabouni and scrum-half Santiago Arata.

Northampton hooker Curtis Langdon said: "We're under no illusions that it's going to be a completely different Castres team this week, but we've prepped well at the start of this week.

We've looked at their game against Benneton and some of their recent fixtures and yeah we're in a good place."

Northampton progressed to the final eight of the tournament with a 46-24 triumph over Clermont Auvergne, England winger Tommy Freeman scoring a hat-trick.

"There was a lot of excitement going into that game, a tough loss away at Sale we were happy with the performance but we obviously didn't get the win," said Langdon.

"So going into the Clermont game, putting in a good performance and getting a win, it was a good buzz after the game. That's what we want now, a bit of momentum and back-up wins and take every game as it comes and try and put our game on the field, if we can do that hopefully it will be a good end to the season."

Saints have sold over 10,000 tickets for the quarter-final in 48 hours a consistent trend for the English champions, who tend to sell out the 15,000 capacity Franklin's Gardens most weeks.

Langdon said: "We know how excited we get to play at home, very fortunate to sell out this stadium every week it really does add to the excitement and when we get out on that pitch, I can speak for all the lads, it's just that feeling that we're going to get a win."

EDITORS PICKS:

• No One Saw This Coming – Sam Warburton Resigns With Immediate Effect
• SHOCKING: Four Lions Hopefuls Who've Gone from Heroes to Zeroes
• Champions Cup Quarter-Final Preview as just ONE Premiership club remains
• 5 latest British & Irish Lions hopefuls – England wing backed for Test side
• BAN: Glasgow Warriors forward banned for eye gouge on Dan Cole

QUIZ: Can you name the last British & Irish Lions XV from the 2021 South Africa Tour?

What can you remember from the 2021 Lions squad? We challenge you to recall the starting XV from the final match of the tour. To finish top of this league table you’ll need to be fast, and your time starts… now!

The post “Under No Illusions” – Northampton’s Curtis Langdon expects unique Castres challenge for Champions Cup quarter final appeared first on Ruck.