Castres 21 Northampton Saints 16: match report Saints, though, dug deep, waiting for the storm to blow itself out, which it duly did, Northampton recovering to claim an all-important bonus point with a defiant finish. They did not deserve any more. Pool Four remains alive, although Northampton need to topple unbeaten Ulster in the December back-to-back double-header. It was hard-nosed rugby and Northampton were forced to hang on grimly for long stretches. They barely managed a toehold in the first half let alone an entire foot. But they stuck at it and got their reward. "We were very conscious of how important the climb back was," Northampton captain, Dylan Hartley said. If we want to be serious contenders, we've got to win these matches. Castres quickly set Saints back on their heels before fly-half Rémi Talès found Romain Martial with a smart cross-kick, the wing feeding inside for Paul Bonnefond to score. Former Gloucester and Worcester wing, Marcel Garvey, now clad in the blue and white of Castres, was always on the lookout for openings and only a diving tackle by his opposite number, Ken Pisi, on half-time spared Northampton's blushes. As it was, two penalty kicks from Stephen Myler, kept Saints in the hunt at 13-6 at the break. Within five minutes of the restart, though, prop Brian Mujati was dispatched to the sin-bin for pulling down a maul. Castres pressed, laying down a series of scrums on the Northampton line from where No 8 Antonie Claassen crashed over. Northampton did not let their heads drop, though, scoring an opportunist try on the hour through George Pisi, the centre taking advantage of a defensive cock-up to hack through from a neat Ryan Lamb kick and touch down. Suddenly, and somehow, Saints were back in the game. Remi Tales's dropped goal from the restart restored the balance for Castres but it was Northampton who ended the stronger, almost snatching a dramatic win in the last sequence of play.