Henry Slade shows his old class as Exeter overcome card-happy Castres

• Pool A: Exeter 40-3 Castres
• Scrappy French side pick up one red card and three yellows

They claim a home tie in the final 16, but Exeter looked as off-colour in overcoming a motiveless Castres as any of the English sides who have laboured through this year’s edition. Six tries and 40 points may look comfortable enough, but Castres defied expectation to cause their hosts real problems.

Exeter came up trumps in this one on the card lottery. Castres were shown four of them, one red, three in three minutes just before the break. In the 37th minute they were penalised by first a red, then a yellow, then a penalty try. It is a wonder they did not implode, given that reduced them to 12. That they did in the last 10 was sort of inevitable.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/oEZpDva