Dylan Hartley was a happy captain after his Northampton side secured a home quarter-final in the Heineken Cup.
Hooker happy to avoid an away trip in the knockout stages of Europe
Dylan Hartley was a happy captain after his Northampton side secured a home quarter-final in the Heineken Cup with a 23-12 win in Castres.
Winger Joe Ansbro scored the Saints' opening try and then had a hand in further scores for flanker Phil Dowson and full-back Ben Foden.
Victory on their travels means Northampton finish their Pool One campaign with six wins from six - though no team has ever lifted the trophy after producing a perfect record in the group stages.
"We started the game well," said Hartley. "We played in the right areas of the field, Stephen Myler did well in that respect.
Confrontational
"Everything seemed to go well tonight. We played at the right times, set-pieces could do with a bit of a tidy up but away from home we're very happy with the win.
"We knew today was going to be confrontational, French teams are passionate and it was always going to be tough.
"Stephen Myler put us in the right areas of the pitch at the start of the game and he took the sting out of them and that put us on the front foot.
"Winning away from home is vital. To do it in the Heineken Cup is a big achievement so we're happy, quietly happy.
"We scored a couple of good tries but what won the game tonight was the defence. We're really happy with the defence."
Hartley picked out Scotland international Ansbro and young lock Calum Clark for special praise after the Saints became the first away team to triumph at the Stade Pierre-Antoine this season.
The England hooker said: "Joe and Calum were the two men of the match, I think.
"Calum's work rate was phenomenal, he's bloody awesome and he's only young. Joe as well. It's going to be a loss to the team him going to play for Scotland, but it's recognition for him and he's certainly playing well.
"Callum is young, he's keen and he's certainly what we want. It's what Northampton is about. He's young and he's talented and doing well."
Home comforts
Northampton will now wait to see who they play next. They may also have to switch the quarter-final to Milton Keynes as Franklin's Gardens doesn't fulfill the stadium requirements for the knockout stages of the competition.
"Winning the pool and six from six is important," admitted Hartley.
"What we learned from last year (when they lost away to Munster) is that going away in quarter-final rugby is certainly not easy so we're certainly happy with the home draw.
"There's no team we want to avoid. Everyone's going to be tough.
"The pool stages are always tough. Whoever has gone through has earned it and it's going to be tough when we come to that. Hopefully we'll get a good result."
Castres coach Laurent Labit was satisfied with his team's performance in defeat - but was impressed with what he saw from Northampton.
"They have impressive speed and efficiency and great players," he said. "Moreover, they're players who are all at an international level, they all play for their country.
"They're third in the English league with two games in hand. In my opinion they're the best team in the English league.
"We spent the first 15-20 minutes struggling to get out of our half but in the second half we were better, we had a lot more possession and spirit and we managed to worry them.
"Unfortunately what we lacked then was scoring when we were at our strongest, because if we had managed to score at 15-7 it could have been different."
