Castres out of Heineken Cup

Neath-Swansea 20 Castres 11

Neath-Swansea’s Elvis Seveali’I killed off the Heineken Cup hopes of Castres with a late try at The Knoll.

The Samoan international intercepted a stray Ugo Mola pass to cross from 60 metres in the seventh minute of extra-time.

After Gavin Henson added the conversion, the French did not even have time to re-start as referee Tony Spreadbury blew the whistle on their Pool 4 challenge.

Castres had needed a win to have any hope of qualifying for the knock-out stages but they came unstuck against a hard-working home team.

For the Ospreys, debut-making Richard Rees scored a try while prop Alessio Galasso forced his way over for Castres.

The victory gave the Ospreys sweet revenge for the 38-17 hammering they took at Stade Pierre Antoine in October.

Castres had lead 11-10 at half-time after a fiercely contested opening period in which both sides tried to move the ball despite the windy conditions.

The Ospreys opened the scoring through scrum-half Rees in the eighth minute.

The Wales Under-21 international marked his first start for the region by outpacing Romain Froment to Shane Williams’ kick ahead after Gavin Henson had created space by kneeing the ball over the top.

With Henson converting and adding a penalty, the Celtic League leaders moved into a 10-3 lead before the French started to rally.

A long-range move saw the ball swept both ways until space opened for Galasso to rumble over.

The Ospreys were further hit by having Rees sin-binned for pulling back an opponent without the ball, centre Laurent Marticorena adding the penalty to give Castres the initiative for the first time.

There continued to be little between the sides after the break.

Yann Delaigue added touches of class for Castres, but they were unable to break down a resolute home team in which flanker Steve Tandy excelled.

Henson edged the Ospreys into a 13-11 lead before Seveali’i added the killer blow, racing clear and punching the air in celebration.