A satisfying start, but for Andy Last, all Hull FC’s focus is what they now do against Toulouse.
11:00, 25 Apr 2026Updated 14:51, 25 Apr 2026
Hull FC celebrate their win at Castleford.
Andy Last got the perfect start to his second stint as Hull FC interim head coach – but his attention has already turned to backing up Friday night’s win at Castleford Tigers against Toulouse Olympique next week.
The Black and Whites were good value for their 50-10 win in West Yorkshire, scoring nine tries in total. But in a season where they believe they can still achieve something, they know it all counts for nothing unless they follow it up against their French opponents.
Hull will be favourites when they go up against Toulouse next Sunday, and it’s a tag they must relish as they look to avoid a banana skin and make it back-to-back wins. They will have the weekend off now to ‘recover and rehab’ before getting to grips with their next test on Monday morning.
“We do (have to back it up now),” Last, speaking to Hull Live, said post-match. “That’s what I’ll be stressing this week. We’ve got our rewards for sticking to a process and delivering a game plan and being disciplined in doing that.
“I’d like to think now we can come up with a plan for Toulouse and then I’ll be striving for an improved performance on what we saw here. Toulouse had a tough night against York but they are a very capable team.
“We’ll show them the utmost respect and I’ll be striving for a week of attitude from the players and then to get a performance full of attitude once again.”
After a tough couple of weeks that have seen John Cartwright stepped down as head coach, Last was quick to praise his players for their display at Castleford, with the side unfazed by recent events and putting in their best performance of the season so far.
“It was a great response from the playing group,” the interim head coach continued. “We’ve got some quality players in there who have seen a great deal in rugby league and who have been in these situations before.
“They’ve drawn on their experiences and the likes of Aidan Sezer, our captain, were sensational. He was great in the changing room and was very good in the team run. The likes of Zak Hardaker supported him and that’s what you want from your senior players: to give that guidance and that experience.
“Zak spoke just before we went out and he said, ‘If we get enough of us 1-17 as an 8/10 performance, we’ll win the game,’ and I thought 1-17 we were 8/10 and then there were a couple 9/10 and arguably some were 10/10.
“We’ve shown we are more than capable of beating anyone in this competition. We just have to consistently put the performances together and that was as good a performance as I’ve seen from us this season.
“We’ll be challenging the players to get back to those levels against Toulouse but this week has shown that there is a real deep connection in the group that has been built over the last 18 months. We just need to continue that spirit and connection and keep backing it up with performances that you saw here.
“We’re a good team when we put it together and I thought we showed what we are capable of and how we can score some points.”
Joking on the reality of his situation, which will see Steve McNamara come in as head coach and Last moving back to assistant, he laughed: “One down. 18 to go. I can’t wait for that. I’m just on countdown. Any problems Steve can deal with them next year.
“It’s one game at a time. We’ve had a great night tonight. We’ll enjoy the weekend, and, then it’s all guns blazing and onto Toulouse.
“We’ve got the opportunity to take a breath now. Last week, we were in Sunday, and we had a big meeting on Tuesday. There’s been a lot of noise around the club over the last two weeks and it’s nice to get back to the week-to-week grind of performing.
“We’ll give them the weekend off now to recover and relax and we’ll make sure they’re ready to come in and train again on Monday.“