Castres

France international Scott Spedding has agreed to join Top 14 club Castres from rivals Clermont Auvergne on a one-year contract.

Munster ran a six-try riot as they went on to secure a home quarter-final berth in the ongoing European Champions Cup following a 48-3 victory over Castres at Thomond Park on Sunday.

Castres came up with a clinical approach as they went on to thrash Castres 39-0 in their round five of the European Rugby Champions Cup face-off at Stade Pierre Fabre on Sunday.

Telusa Veainu and Jonny May scored five tries between them as Leicester Tigers got their European Champions Cup campaign back on track with a 54-29 bonus point win over Castres at Welford Road.

Munster managed to survive a second-half onslaught from Castres as they held on for a 17-17 draw in their European Champions Cup Pool Four opener at Stade Pierre Fabre.

Replacements Dan Leavy and fly-half Ross Byrne contributed with a late try and a conversion as Leinster made a comeback from 17-10 down to draw the game 24-24 against Castres in the European Champions Cup clash at Stade Pierre Antoine on Friday.

Teimana Harrison scored two tries in the first half while fly-half Stephen Myler contributed with 13 points as Northampton Saints ended Castres hopes of progressing to the quarter-finals with a 28-21 triumph in their European Champions Cup encounter at Franklin's Garden on Saturday.

Castres have kept their hopes alive of making it to the knock-out stage of European Champions Cup after they edged out Montpellier in a close 29-23 encounter at Stade Pierre Antoine on Sunday.

A 14-man Montpellier side completely outclassed Castres with a splendid second-half performance to register a 32-14 victory at the Altrad Stadium on Sunday during the 2016-17 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage clash.

Northampton Saints left the Stade Pierre-Antoine battered and bruised after receiving a heavy 41-7 thrashing from Castres during the 2016-17 European Rugby Champions Cup pool stage clash on Saturday.

Led by a double try from Sean Cronin, Leinster stormed to a 33-15 victory over Castres in European Rugby Champions Cup 2016-17 clash at RDS Arena.

Boks job, returning to Europe, a Fijian/French interest and heading North

Harlequins will aim to preserve their perfect European Challenge Cup record this season when they tackle Calvisano in Italy on Saturday.

Castres number eight Johnnie Beattie has been added to Vern Cotter's Scotland squad ahead of next month's RBS 6 Nations kick-off in Paris.

Clermont Auvergne, Harlequins, Leinster and Racing Métro were the day's winners as round two of the European Champions Cup ended with four action-packed matches.

Danny Care scored the only try of the game as Harlequins saw off a strong Castres challenge to win the opening match of the 2014/15 European Champions Cup 25-9 at Twickenham Stoop.

Harlequins boss Conor O'Shea is relishing his side's European Champions Cup opener against a "frightening" Castres side tomorrow night.

Northampton ended their Heineken Cup pool with a 13-3 victory over French champions Castres but it took them until the final minute to break down a ferocious visiting defence.

With the cold snap across France waning, the 18th round of the Top 14 sees a full complement of fixtures as the battle for the play-offs and relegation heats up.

With Phillipe Saint-André having announced his Six Nations squad on Thursday, the 30 men selected will be out to prove themselves worthy of making France's starting XV against Italy in one month's time.