Toulouse's Mitch Garbutt still holidays with ex-Hull KR team-mates Danny McGuire and Matt Parcell but hopes to make their French trip fall flat.
The Australian prop, 32, also won Grand Finals with the duo at Leeds before linking up with them at Rovers. Super League’s greatest try-scorer McGuire is now KR assistant coach while Aussie hooker Parcell remains one of the East Yorkshire club’s main threats.
Ahead of their Easter Monday meeting in the south of France, Garbutt said: “We went to Spain on holiday with the families at the end of last season. They still don’t buy a beer. That’s why they have so much cash and so many houses. I’m sure Matty’s an adopted Yorkshireman.
“I had a great time at KR and am still in touch with a lot of people from my time there. And from Leeds, they have the Tank on the Flank Ryan Hall as well. He’s doing what he’s always done for the last 10 years and more. His numbers are so consistent. KR have had a reasonable start while we’ve struggled a little. But Monday’s a good opportunity for us to hopefully turn our season around.”
Rovers earned a fourth straight win in Friday’s derby against Hull but bottom-placed Toulouse suffered a seventh loss from eight outings at Catalans 24 hours earlier. Garbutt, who won the Treble with Rhinos in 2015, said: “KR will be pretty happy with how they went against Hull.
“But, with them needing to travel to France and us also having an extra day’s recovery, maybe that will help our chances.”
Garbutt featured with the Robins in 2019 and 2020 before switching to Toulouse who he helped win promotion to the top-flight last year. On his own French adventure, the ex-Brisbane forward said: “The experience of helping them get into Super League and what it has done for the French rugby league community was just as rewarding as the success I had winning Grand Finals.
“Obviously, this year has been a big contrast to last season in the Championship - when we were used to winning - but that’s all part of it. It’s a big learning curve for the club, the players and even the coaching staff but I do feel the club is dealing with it well. We’ve had mixed performances. The win against Saints was a great occasion. But there needs to be a lot more great occasions.”
Toulouse’s only victory was their stunning home success against reigning champions Saints last month and they know they need more if they are to avoid an immediate relegation. They competed hard against Catalans on Thursday before losing out 18-10 in Perpignan - even though their opponents had Joe Chan red-carded.
Garbutt said: “It was good to play in the first French Super League derby and it was a great occasion in that sense.
“But both teams were pretty poor. We missed a lot of opportunities and when they went down to 12 we had a real chance to win the game so it’s disappointing we didn’t. Both coaches were disappointed with how their sides played. And I think both sets of players were the same.
“The game didn’t match the occasion. Errors slowed the game down and we didn’t play how we wanted to play. Both teams were in double figures for errors and it’s hard to play when it’s like that. We want to change that against KR.”
