Northampton won all their Heineken Cup pool games last season but have yet to make a splash this time. They lie at the bottom of their group at the halfway stage after losing out in a comedy of errors in Castres and suffering a third defeat in three, with no chance of making the knockout stage.
Suspension and injuries left Northampton with a weakened lineup and they were undermined by two yellow cards, both of which appeared harsh. Stephen Myler had been warned earlier for a high tackle on the flanker Ibrahim Diarra and just before the interval the shortest player on the field, Thomas Sanchou, ducked into the fly-half's challenge and was hit on the head.
Castres took advantage to score a try to give them a 23-12 interval lead and when Northampton had pulled back to within four points going into the final quarter, their England flanker Tom Wood saw yellow – a week after receiving a red card against Leicester for fighting – after trying to halt a rolling maul on his own 22 from an offside position. By the time he returned, Castres had scored two tries.
Wood had not been warned and there was little likelihood of Castres scoring a try at that point, but Northampton had been heavily penalised after the break despite, for the most part, being the stronger side. Castres got away with a poor lineout, a dodgy scrummaging technique and some questionable defending to end a run of six matches without a victory, but it was a game Saints should have won.
Northampton scored four tries to secure another bonus point in defeat, but whereas last season they won tight pool matches, this season they have lost them. After winning eight successive matches in Europe up to last season's final, they have now lost four in a row and have only a mathematical chance of making the last eight.
The opening minutes summed up what was to come. Northampton won their own kick-off through Vasily Artemyev and moved into the home 22. One mistake later and they were defending for the first time, unable to stop the flanker Steve Malonga from scoring in the corner. Mark Sorenson claimed an equalising try after a driving maul from a penalty lineout, but indiscipline allowed Romain Teulet to kick the first two of his five penalties in the match.
After each time Northampton hit back, as they did on 31 minutes with a try by the wing Jamie Elliott, they then were punished for an error. In keeping with the season, they were more intent on giving than receiving, and when Elliott scored his second try two minutes after the restart, with Myler still in the sin-bin, they gave Teulet another penalty opportunity.
Yet when they scored their bonus-point try through the No8 Samu Manoa with 24 minutes to go, they looked the more likely winners. Castres were 26-22 up but, apart from a few moments of invention by their No8 Chris Masoe and the scrum-half Rory Kockott, they looked a side drained of confidence, fortunate that Northampton's handling was poor on a warm, sunny winter's day as one unforced error followed another.
Wood's yellow changed the complexion of the game. Northampton lacked strength with the forward on the bench and succumbed to late tries by the wing Romain Martial, his second of the game, and Diarra. With Ben Foden struggling with a leg injury and Chris Ashton suspended, Saints lacked the pace to take advantage of space created by the centre George Pisi. Ashton has been linked with a move to Saracens next season and the England wing will be able to talk to prospective employers from next month as he is out of contract with Saints in June.
"You want to keep your best players, but if they want to leave it is up to them," the Northampton director of rugby, Jim Mallinder, said. "We want people who want to play for us, and you will have to ask Chris if that is his wish."
