Furbank back on bench as Saints name unchanged XV
England full-back George Furbank returns to the bench as Northampton Saints name an unchanged starting XV for their Investec Champions Cup quarter-final with Castres.Club captain Furbank is included in the matchday squad for the first time since December after recovering from a fractured arm which ruled him out of this year's Six Nations, while there is also room among the replacements for Scotland prop Elliot Millar Mills.The hosts, who won their only Champions Cup title in 2000, have opted for a five-three split on the bench as prop Luke Green and back row Angus Scott-Young miss out from the squad which beat Clermont Auvergne in the last 16.Castres, who shocked Saracens on their last visit to England, make six changes in personnel and one positional alteration from the side which edged past Benetton in the previous round.Geoffrey Palis is named on the wing and Jeremy Fernandez starts at scrum-half, while outside centre Vilimoni Botitu partners Jack Goodhue in midfield.Baptiste Delaporte comes into the back row as Gauthier Maravat moves from flanker to join Leone Nakarawa in a new-look second row.Former Harlequins and England prop Will Collier retains his place in an unchanged front row. Saints cruised past Castres 38-8 in their opening game of this season's competition in December but fly-half Fin Smith says the hosts are expecting a "proper" European tie against a Top 14 side who have won seven of their past 10 games and lost just once in 2025."Castres are a proper team and it will be a proper European quarter-final," Smith told BBC Radio Northampton. "It will have some edge with ups and downs and we are looking forward to it but we will really have to be on our game to get over the line."The game at home against Munster last year was the closest I have been to a proper European knockout game at home with Saints."It will feel like that with a real edge to it and some tension in the ground but those are the occasions you relish the most and remember most fondly."Northampton are seeking to become the Premiership's first Champions Cup winners since Exeter in 2020 and could set-up a second consecutive semi-final with Leinster, who host Glasgow Warriors in their quarter-final on Friday.
Line-ups
Northampton: Ramm; Freeman, Odendaal, Dingwall (capt), Hendy; Smith, Mitchell; Iyogun, Langdon, Davison, Mayanavanua, Coles, Kemeny, Pollock, Augustus.Replacements: Walker, West, Millar Mills, Lockett, Pearson, James, Hutchinson, Furbank.Castres: Chabouni; Palis, Botitu, Goodhue, Baget; Le Brun, Fernandez; Walcker, Barlot, Collier, Maravat, Nakarawa, Babillot (capt), Delaporte, Papalii.Replacements: Zarantonello, Guerois-Galisson, Azar, Meka, Macurdy, Cope, Perrone, Dumora.Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South Wales Guardian
27 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
Paul Parker: Conference League spot would be ‘step forward' at Manchester United
Slovenia international Sesko completed his switch from RB Leipzig on Saturday, in a deal worth up to £73.7million, as United continued their summer recruitment drive following the signings of Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo. However, Parker – who won two Premier League titles as well as the 1994 FA Cup with United – believes expectations levels must be set to a realistic level as Ruben Amorim aims to move his side back up the Premier League table after what was their worst top-flight campaign in 51 years. From Radece to Manchester 👣 Look back on Benjamin's journey, as his United story gets started 📈 — Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 11, 2025 'Manchester United's season this season, you have got to say, will be better than the previous one – it has to be or they will be relegated. It is a simple as that,' Parker told the PA news agency. 'It is not about getting back into the Champions League, it is more about just a European spot. 'Everyone will be saying, 'oh, United have to be better than the Conference League' – but why have they? United finished 15th last season. 'If at the end of the season, they are in the Conference League, then that would be a step forward and is European football.' Parker feels Sesko, 22, deciding to head to Old Trafford without the opportunity of playing at Europe's top table again next season – as he could have done at Newcastle – shows just how much a lure United continues to be. 'Any player with any ambition and who wants to do something big will play for Manchester United, regardless of being in any European competition or the Champions League,' said Parker, who is an ambassador for Prostate Cancer UK, the country's largest men's health charity. 'When someone like Sesko goes to a club like Manchester United, with no European football, and scores 20 goals, then he is a superstar. 'Everything is going to be about him and Manchester United growing on to become what they were – and what they should be.' Parker added: 'Then in Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, United have signed two high-energy players who run with the ball and without the ball. They are both players the manager has not got to ask to work hard. 'So if the manager gets his best XI out there, I am just interested to see how it is all going to work.' Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer in men – and there are far too many men being diagnosed late, when it is harder to treat. Parker's father was diagnosed with prostate cancer during lockdown in 2020, and the former England full-back continues to support Prostate Cancer UK campaigns. The season's kicking off – and so is something even bigger 📢#ProstateUnited is BACK this October! ⚽ Represent your club alongside the kit men, physios and maybe even your gaffer and help save men's lives. ➡️ Sign up now: l #Football — Prostate Cancer UK (@ProstateUK) August 7, 2025 'You can tell your best mate to do it (get checked out), they will listen and bob their head, then the next couple of days they go, 'no, I won't do that because I feel alright' – but it is one of those things which can just drop down and grab you,' Parker, 61, said. 'With prostate cancer, it is earlier the better and that has been proven so many times. The earlier they can find it, then the more comfortable you can be.' :: One in eight men will get prostate cancer, a statistic which shortens to one in four if you are black – but it is a disease that is curable if caught early. More than 4.3 million people have used Prostate Cancer UK's online risk checker. Check your risk today at
Daily Record
37 minutes ago
- Daily Record
The Celtic chief will remain in hiding as the boss tries to deal with tight-fisted change of stance
The club's sequestered leadership will discover that there is no hiding place if Celtic are knocked out of the Champions League Time's just about up for the men in charge of Celtic 's transfer strategy. By Thursday night the alarm bells will be ear splitting when Brendan Rodgers has to submit his squad list for a Champions League play-off double header against Kairat Almaty and, at that point, there will be no wriggle room left. No excuses. Nowhere left to turn. On the contrary, unless they suddenly pull a collection of unforeseen rabbits out of hats which appear not to exist, Rodgers will be shoved out front and centre, attempting to render their inexcusable mismanagement as just some minor misdemeanour. Yes, the chances are that he'll find a way of doing precisely this. Scotland's champions may willingly be entering a period of regression but Rodgers remains an elite tactical and managerial performer. And, true, it's probably reasonable for his paymasters to assume he's got enough talent at his disposal to get through a double header against the Kazhaks of Kairat Almaty, even without a late rush of oven ready reinforcements. But, given the holes in his squad which remain both glaring and gaping, it's by no means a sure thing. And, no matter how these European qualifiers should turn out, the man charged with holding the fort is highly likely to find the inaction of his superiors as absolutely unforgivable. And, really, who in their right mind could possibly disagree with him? So the most pertinent and pressing question in all of this is, where exactly is Michael Nicholson, Celtic's invisible man of a chief executive? You may just about remember Nicholson from his yearly appearance in front of shareholders at the club's AGM. Even though his offerings are, for the most part, instantly forgettable. And that's probably the way he likes it. Nicholson is a reluctant and reclusive leader. So long as Rodgers remains standing there in the spotlight, delivering one title after the next, he may believe there's no real requirement for him to step out of the shadows. But, ironically, his determination to stay as far as humanly possible from centre stage or to present himself as his club's driving force, could well be about to drag him out into full focus. If he will not or cannot give his backing to Rodgers then he will have to carry the can in the eyes of the Celtic support when the Northern Irishman decides that his second stint as manager has run its course. And right now, the catastrophic optics seem to suggest that moment will be arriving sooner rather than later. Rodgers has long since nailed his own colours to the mast. On day one, when he began his reincarnation as Celtic's manager, he made a solemn promise that he would not run out on the club and its supporters for a second time, having taken a wrecking ball to those relationships when he left for Leicester City first time around. He deeply regrets the damage done by that decision. And that's possibly the only reason why he'll be prepared to stick around until his current three year contract has expired at the end of this season. Nicholson and his board will have calculated - and with good cause - that Rodgers will continue to succeed in his role for the time being, despite the dereliction of their own responsibilities. They have not replaced Kyogo Furuhashi despite rubber-stamping his £10m sale in January. They did not have a succession plan in place when they rushed to grab a further £17m for Nicolas Kuhn earlier this summer. Also, they appear not to have paid the slightest bit of attention to the injury which will keep Jota stuck in the treatment room at Lennoxtown for the rest of this year. And that's before they grapple with the potential end bringer of sanctioning Daizen Maeda 's sale if, as has been reported, the Japanese international has no inclination to put pen to paper on a contract extension. Nicholson's certainly not daft. Regardless of the Maeda conundrum, he must realise Rodgers has already been left leafing through limited options and that Celtic's squad is weaker than the manager has earned the right to expect. But with Russell Martin already making a bad situation worse at Rangers, the bottom line is there is no obvious business requirement for Nicholson and his boardroom strategists to part with the kind of money the manager might wish them to. Yes, if they're smart, they'll be keeping one eye on the diligent work being carried out at Hearts but, even so, they will believe Rodgers has more than enough to see off the combination of Derek McInnes and Tony Bloom's analytics. They will probably point to the £26m they shelled out this time last year as a justification for cautiously playing footsie with this summer's transfer market. Once bitten, twice shy appears to be the mantra. And the basic logic is simple enough to follow. If Adam Idah can't be trusted to lead Celtic's attack despite costing £9m, if £11m Arne Engles has been subbed out of the manager's starting XI to make way for a £1.7m arrival in Benjamin Nygren and if Liam Scales continues to keep Auston Trusty on the bench, then why should they back the judgement of Rodgers to the same extent? Nicholson could reasonably argue that spending fortunes in order to satisfy the manager's lofty ambitions has come at too much of a cost. But don't hold your breath waiting for the CEO to come out and state his case. Rather, it's almost certain he'll remain hidden in plain sight while Rodgers attempts to deal with the consequences of his board's tight-fisted change of stance. Ultimately, this sudden pivot is likely to convince Rodgers that his own judgement is being called into question in the boardroom and he's simply not the kind of man to tolerate such blatant disrespect. He already said he's not the man to merely 'maintain' Celtic's status as Scotland's dominant force. On the contrary, Rodgers is striving to drive up the club's reputation across the continent by trading some serious blows in the Champions League. And, crucially, that's why Thursday's deadline will carry such significance to Rodgers even if Nicholson isn't all that bothered by it. Celtic will spend and the chances are they'll spend big before the window shuts for business at the end of this month. But even that would be missing the point. If Rodgers is left carrying a water pistol into a £40m knife fight against the Kazhaks next week then he may very well reach the conclusion that his own value to Celtic is being disregarded and underestimated by his own bosses. We all know how that one ends. And, if that's really where this is all headed, then soon the club's sequestered leadership will discover that there is no hiding place.
Scotsman
39 minutes ago
- Scotsman
What channel is Paris Saint-Germain v Tottenham Hotspur on? TV and live stream details for Super Cup
Full details ahead of Paris Saint-Germain v Tottenham Hotspur in the UEFA Super Cup at the Bluenergy Stadium in Italy. Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The first major European trophy of the season is up for grabs on Wednesday evening as Paris Saint-Germain meet Tottenham Hotspur in the annual UEFA Super Cup final. Back in May, the French giants claimed their very first UEFA Champions League title with a thumping 5-0 victory against Inter Milan in Munich's Allianz Arena, and will now look to cement their status as the best team in Europe by adding the UEFA Super Cup to their trophy cabinet. Winners of a domestic treble last season, a win for Luis Enrique's side would see them claim an astonishing fifth trophy of the year. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Their shock 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in the Club World Cup final in America last month is still fresh in the memory, though, and Thomas Frank's Tottenham Hotspur will be hoping to spring a surprise and add another trophy of their own, following their memorable 1-0 Europa League final win against Manchester United in May. Want to make sure you don't miss a minute of the game? Here's everything you need to know about the UEFA Super Cup final, including how to watch the game live: Can Thomas Frank claim a second trophy in a matter of months for Tottenham Hotspur against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday? | Getty Images Paris Saint-Germain v Spurs Super Cup match details Date and Time: Wednesday 13 August. Kick-off: 8pm UK time. Wednesday 13 August. Kick-off: 8pm UK time. Venue: Bluenergy Stadium, Udine, Italy. Paris Saint-Germain v Spurs TV channel The Super Cup clash between Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur has been chosen for live broadcast on TNT Sports for those subscribed to the service. Set to be screened via TNT Sports 1 and TNT Sports Ultimate, pre-match coverage will to begin at 7pm. Details of how to sign up to the services are available here. Paris Saint-Germain v Spurs Super Cup live stream For those preferring to stream the game on your smart TV, laptop, tablet or mobile phone, TNT Sports subscribers can stream the match live on the discovery+ website here or through the discovery+ app. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Paris Saint-Germain v Spurs Super Cup highlights
