Super League: Hull FC 38-12 Toulouse Olympique - hosts score seven tries in dominant win

Mitieli Vulikijapani races in to score Hull FC's fourth try in a convincing win over Toulouse.

Hull ran in seven tries on their way to a first win in five Super League games, at the expense of relegated Toulouse.

Harvey Barron scored twice in the opening 15 minutes, before Will Gardner touched down on his home debut.

Mitieli Vulikijapani showed good pace to race away for Hull's fourth as they took a 24-0 lead into the break.

Toulouse hit back through Guy Armitage and Ilias Bergal, but Ellis Longstaff, Jordan Lane and Vulikijapani's second confirmed a deserved Hull victory.

The French side were relegated after one season in Super League following their defeat against fellow French side Catalans Dragons on Thursday.

Despite recording impressive wins over Leeds and St Helens this season, Sylvain Houles' side could not put together a run of form good enough to remain in the division.

Hull enter into the final stages of the 2022 campaign unable to reach the play-offs and came into the match having beaten Toulouse on two occasions already this season.

Those two victories saw Brett Hodgson's Airlie Birds put a cumulative 78 points past their opponents, with Toulouse managing just 18 in response.

Ellis Longstaff scored Hull's fifth after 65 minutes in front of a crowd of 8,785 at the MKM Stadium

An upset never looked likely with Barron scoring twice from Jake Connor passes to put the hosts 12-0 up inside a quarter of an hour.

Gardner's score was quickly followed by Vulikijapani's, with the Fijian finishing acrobatically after a flowing move, with Cooper kicking four out of four conversions to help the score along to 24-0 at half-time.

Toulouse finally got on the scoreboard after 62 minutes when Armitage powered over but the French side's joy was short-lived as Barron offloaded to Longstaff to cross the line three minutes later.

Lane and Vulikijapani added late tries either side of Toulouse's second from Bergal to finish off a convincing Hull victory.

Hull round off their season with a derby against city rivals Hull KR next Saturday, with Toulouse travelling to league leaders St Helens before their relegation to the Championship.

Hull FC head coach Brett Hodgson told BBC Radio Humberside:

"It's good to get the win off the back off a pretty tough period. When you're battling confidence it's very difficult to get those periods where you can run away with a game like that.

"The start was very good, to get 24-0 up and playing more expansively and being braver with the ball. But I think we saw a tired team as a result of playing a pretty physical game three days ago but thankfully we came away with the points which was pleasing.

"There were too many errors from minute 25 to 60 and we didn't apply any pressure during that period and allowed them to dictate. We conceded a couple of soft tries. We need to see more clinical finishing in the middle part of the game."

Toulouse head coach Sylvain Houles:

"We know our destiny now and we just want to make sure we finish giving a good account of ourselves and playing with spirit. It wasn't quite there in the first half but at half-time we fixed up a few things and we played with plenty of fight.

"There should be a good core of the team playing today that will be there next season. It's very important to try and keep the squad together. It's been a disappointing season but we've learned a lot and we know what to expect now as a group.

"We faced plenty of adversity right from the beginning but the boys have turned up every week and fought hard and I knew we'd do that today and we'll do it again next week. We never give up, which is something we can be proud of."

Hull FC: Connor; Litten, Scott, Vulikijapani, Barron; Smith, Gale; Sao, Johnstone, Taylor, Lane, Longstaff, Gardiner.

Interchanges: Balmforth, Laidlaw, McNamara, Satae.

Toulouse: Ashall-Bott; Schaumkel, Armitage, Marcon, Bergal; Hankinson, Cunningham; Navarettte, Peats, Alvaro, Peyroux, Bretherton, Paulo.

Interchanges: Pelissier, Belmas, Hansen, Sangare.

Referee: Aaron Moore.

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