Kockott keeps Castres in the hunt
Rory Kockott hauled Castres back into possible contention for a quarterfinal slot with a last gasp penalty at Franklin's Gardens on Friday.
In other Round Five action, Ulster secured their place in the play-offs for the third straight year following their 23-6 win over Glasgow while Montpellier eased to a 27-6 away victory over Sale.
We look at all Friday's action!
Northampton 18-12 Castres
South African scrumhalf Rory Kockott kicked a crucial last-minute penalty against Northampton to keep Castres' quarterfinal aspirations alive.
Kockott's late strike made it 18-12 just moments after Ryan Lamb had struck his third kick of the night to seemingly take away the French side's chance of leaving Northampton with something.
It was 6-6 at the break and the Saints fans were hoping for a repeat performance in the second half to last year, when they stretched a narrow three-point lead to a bonus point 45-0 triumph.
But 12 months on there was no chance of Castres capitulating a second time and even though Northampton were able to overtake them to move into second place, Castres will end their Pool Four campaign with a home clash with table-topping Ulster.
Round Six will now determine whether or not Saints, who travel to Glasgow, or Castres can get enough points to challenge for one of the two best runners-up spots to reach the quarterfinals.
All the points on a misty night at Franklin's Gardens came from the boot. Kockott claimed all the points for Castres, while Steve Myler and his replacement, Lamb, landed three apiece for the home side.
The scorers:
For Northampton:
Pens: Myler 3, Lamb 3
For Castres:
Pens: Kockott 4
Yellow card: Anton Peikrishvili (Castres, 35)
Teams:
Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 James Wilson, 13 George Pisi, 12 Dom Waldouck, 11 Jamie Elliott, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Phil Dowson, 7 Tom Wood, 6 Calum Clark, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Paul Doran-Jones, 2 Dylan Hartley (captain), 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Tom Mercey, 19 Mark Sorenson, 20 GJ Van Velze, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Tom May.
Castres: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Max Evans, 13 Romain Cabannes, 12 Rémi Lamerat, 11 Marcel Garvey, 10 Daniel Kirkpatrick, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Antonie Claassen, 7 Yannick Caballero, 6 Jannie Bornman, 5 Iosefa Tekori, 4 Christophe Samson, 3 Anton Peikrishvili, 2 Mathieu Bonello, 1 Yannick Forestier.
Replacements: 16 Brice Mach, 17 Saimone Taumoepeau, 18 Michaël Coetzee, 19 Matthias Rolland, 20 Paul Bonnefond, 21 Pedrie Wannenburg, 22 Pierre Bernard, 23 Thomas Sanchou.
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Paul Haycock (Ireland), Michael Black (Ireland)
TMO: Peter Ferguson (Ireland)
Ulster 23-6 Glasgow
Ulster qualified for the quarterfinals of European rugby's premier club competition with a hard-fought win over Glasgow Warriors in Round Five.
The Pro12 leaders sealed a spot in the last eight of the European Cup with a 23-6 success in testing conditions at Ravenhill.
Tries from Nick Williams, Jared Payne and Darren Cave, together with eight points from the boot of Ruan Pienaar, saw last season's beaten finalists reach the knockout stages for the third season running.
Ulster were the dominant force in the early stages but it took 20 minutes to claim their first try when Williams powered over from close-range.
The former Munster and Aironi No.8 claimed his seventh score of the season by bludgeoning his way through Moray Low and Rob Harley from five metres out.
Pienaar defied the wet weather to add a well-taken conversion to his sixth-minute penalty as Ulster moved 10 points clear of their Scottish rivals with a quarter of the game gone.
Glasgow worked their way back into the encounter despite a dominant Ulster scrum and Duncan Weir missed a brace of penalty chances in the closing stages of the half after Pienaar had failed with one attempt himself after 27 minutes.
Weir got the Warriors on the board eight minutes after the break but, despite a 52nd-minute yellow card for Ulster flank Iain Henderson and a better showing in terms of territory and possession, Glasgow could only add a further three points from the flyhalf to their tally in the remainder of the match.
Instead it was the hosts who pushed on, with Payne stepping inside DTH van der Merwe with a clever dummy from just a few metres out after 73 minutes.
Pienaar was off target with the extras but had added an earlier penalty and Ulster were 18-6 to the good and effectively home and dry.
Cave then supplied some gloss to the end result with a fine finish from 40 metres out with less than two minutes remaining but Ulster couldn't find the bonus-point try that would have enhanced their hopes of a home tie in April.
The scorers:
For Ulster:
Tries: Williams, Payne, Cave
Con: Pienaar
Pens: Pienaar 2
For Glasgow:
Pens: Weir 2
Yellow card: Iain Henderson (Ulster, 52)
Teams:
Ulster: 15 Jared Payne, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Craig Gilroy, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Chris Henry (captain), 6 Robbie Diack, 5 Iain Henderson, 4 Louis Stevenson, 3 John Afoa, 2 Rory Best, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Calum Black, 18 Declan Fitzpatrick, 19 Neil McComb, 20 Roger Wilson, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Michael Allen, 23 Chris Cochrane.
Glasgow: 15 Peter Murchie, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Alex Dunbar, 12 Peter Horne, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Robert Harley, 6 James Eddie, 5 Al Kellock (captain), 4 Tom Ryder, 3 Moray Low, 2 Doug Hall, 1 Ryan Grant.
Replacements: 16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 tbc, 19 Nick Campbell, 20 Tim Swinson, 21 Nikola Matawalu, 22 Scott Wight, 23 Stuart Hogg.
Referee: Pascal Gauzere (France)
Assistant referees: Laurent Cardona (France), Stéphane Pomarède (France)
TMO: Hervé Dubes (France)
Sale Sharks 6-27 Montpellier
Montpellier's hopes of a first European Cup quarterfinal appearance remain very much alive after a 27-6 win at Sale Sharks.
Tries from Yohann Artu, Johnnie Beattie, Pierre Berard and a penalty try sealed a fine success at the Salford City Stadium as they made it four wins from five tournament fixtures this term.
The fact that the win was coupled with a try-scoring bonus point means Pool Six will go down to the wire regardless of the result of Saturday's clash between leaders Toulon and Cardiff Blues.
Prior to referee Leighton Hodges' decision to award a penalty try with 77 minutes played, Toulon knew that a maximum-point win over the Blues at the Stade Felix Mayol would see them secure top spot, but that honour could now go to Montpellier if they can claim a handsome victory over their French rivals next weekend.
Left wing Artu gave Montpellier just the kind of start they were looking for in the north of England when he crossed after just nine minutes and the visitors were good value for this convincing win from there on in.
Scrumhalf Benoit Paillaugue added the extras to Artu's effort having missed a fifth-minute penalty attempt before Danny Cipriani got the Sharks off the mark with 16 minutes gone.
Scotland back row Beattie gave Montpellier some breathing space when he touched down for an unconverted score two minutes past the half hour but Cipraini had the last say of the half with his second penalty after 36 minutes.
Montpellier began the second period in a similar manner to the first, though, as they added eight points to their tally in as many minutes after the restart.
Paillaugue's first penalty success on 46 minutes was followed by a try for fullback Berard just two minutes later as Montpellier surged 14 points clear, although it looked like they would have to settle for just a four-point win as they failed to trouble the scoreboard again until the dying stages.
Victory was as good as assured a long while from full-time but Hodges' gave them even more reason to celebrate when he pointed to the posts with just two-and-a-half minutes remaining.
The scorers:
For Sale Sharks:
Pens: Cipriani 2
For Montpellier:
Tries: Artru, Beattie, Berard, Penalty try
Cons: Paillaugue, Escande
Pen: Paillaugue
Teams:
Sale Sharks: 15 Cameron Shepherd, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Mark Cueto, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Charlie Amesbury, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Will Cliff, 8 Josh Beaumont, 7 David Seymour, 6 James Doyle, 5 Tom Holmes, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Aston Croall.
Replacements: 16 Tom Cruse, 17 Ross Harrison, 18 Tony Buckley, 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Tommy Taylor, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Rob Miller, 23 Jordan Davies.
Montpellier: 15 Pierre Bérard, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Thomas Combezou, 12 Santiago Fernandez, 11 Yohann Artru, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Benoit Paillaugue, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 Mamuka Gorgodze, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Aliki Fakate, 4 Mickael Demarco, 3 Maximiliano Bustos, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili.
Replacements: 16 Rassie van Vuuren, 17 Yvan Watremez, 18 Barry Fa'amausili, 19 Rémy Martin, 20 Alexandre Bias, 21 Eric Escande, 22 Paul Bosch, 23 Lucas Amorosino.
Referee: Leighton Hodges (Wales)
Assistant referees: Rhys Thomas (Wales), Wayne Davies (Wales)