Northampton director of rugby Jim Mallinder is confident of a repeat of last season's quarter-final appearance after a Heineken Cup draw that could have been much worse in The Daily Telegraph.
"It is a promising draw for us," admits Mallinder. "We have ambitions of becoming one of Europe's top teams that reaches the knockout stages of the Heineken Cup on a regular basis and this group is wide open.
"Cardiff showed how far they have come by winning the Challenge Cup in a hostile atmosphere against Toulon and Edinburgh have improved a great deal over the last few years.
"And any trip to France is tough, especially to a place like Castres. This season they beat both Toulouse and Biarritz, which shows that they have to be taken seriously too."
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