Joe Cator played his part for Toulouse on his first return to Hull FC.
Toulouse’s Joe Cator celebrates victory over Hull FC.(Image: SW PIX)
Former Hull FC forward Joe Cator has been labelled a ‘machine’ for his part in Toulouse Olympique’s win against his former club on Sunday afternoon.
Cator came up against the Black and Whites for the first time since leaving the club back in 2024, scoring his first try for the French outfit as they ran out 12-4 winners at the MKM Stadium.
Playing at loose forward, Cator broke through the middle of the Hull defence to score and also shaped up well in the Toulouse team, which also had influential performances from the likes of Joe Shorrocks and Olly Ashall-Bott.
Speaking post-match, Toulouse head coach Sylvain Houles told All Out Rugby League: “He scored his first try for Toulouse Olympique. For him, he probably had that game marked for a while, and having all of his family there, and getting the win, is tremendous.
“Since he came to us, he has really applied himself. He’s a great professional and a great competitor. You see the size of him and the way he competes on the field – he’s a machine.
“I’m very pleased for him. He has embraced the Toulouse culture and what we’re doing. He was very keen to come to us and I’m hoping he had a great day.”
Earning their third win of the Super League season, Toulouse ended a run of seven successive defeats with victory against Hull, scoring through Ashall-Bott and Cator in the first half.
Hull hit back through Tom Briscoe and then had a mountain of possession on the Toulouse goal line in the second half. However, they couldn’t break through, a result of some disjointed attack and stern French defence.
“It’s a tricky one,” Houles, assessing the game, continued. “We’re very happy to get the two points, but that second half was not very good from us. We made so many mistakes but we defended everything.
“It’s great to walk away with the win; our effort was outstanding in stopping every attack, working hard on the inside, and controlling the tackles.
“Our middle was very good; they helped our edges, and we needed it. We were down on possession, and the possession they had in our 20, I was very happy with our defence, but we made it so stressful and hard for us.
“We started the game very well. I thought the first half set us up. We put a good input into the speed of the game and we came out very fast and on the back of our defence straight away. We kicked well and we defended well, and that set us up.
“It’s been a while since we had a start like that. Since the beginning of the season, we have been 12-0 down, or 16 or even 18, so that was a big thing, that kind of start, and that really helped us.”
And on Ashall-Bott, a star of the Toulouse team for several seasons now, Houles added: “Olly is a big part of our team. I think our middle was good, too, and controlled our attack, but Olly organised our defence, and he did really well.
“We can be lost in our defence sometimes, especially our goal line defence, but Olly was outstanding with our numbers, our space, and controlling everything. He was good, but a lot of other players were very good.”