Quins, bereft of a host of regulars through injury and suspension, had no answer to Castleford's attacking performance as the visitors belied their lowly position to cross for 13 tries.

Tigers started as they meant to go on in the 10th minute when winger Michael Wainwright broke down the touchline and despite his offload going to ground, Stuart Donlan gathered to race over.

Quins struck back shortly after, Chris Melling crashing over after Henry Paul's pass took out three tacklers.

But the Tigers took control with a breathless 10-minute burst, taking advantage of some woeful home tackling to score three tries.

First, after a Jon Grayshon fumble, Owen shrugged off a poor Melling tackle to cross with ease.

Then, after Scott Moore was held just short, the ball was spun wide for Shenton to slide over.

Finally, a neat inside pass from Brent Sherwin allowed Dorn to breeze over unopposed.

Quins briefly threatened a revival when another excellent Paul pass saw Grayshon canter over.

But Castleford quickly wiped that score out when Shenton crossed again, Kirk Dixon adding his fourth conversion.

The visitors continued their dominance after the break, running in a further eight tries to secure their best victory of the season.

Moments after the restart, Ned Catic found a gap, produced a burst of speed and dummied Melling to scorch over.

Then Dorn showed a turn of pace to outrun the Quins defence and scamper over in the corner.

Worse was to follow for the hosts as Owen, Ryan McGoldrick and Shenton all crossed as the Tigers racked up a half-century.

Revelled

But the visitors still were not finished, Owen bursting down the touchline to score in the corner, with Wainwright and Dorn following suit.

Castleford coach Terry Matterson revelled in his side's attacking prowess at the Stoop.

And he demanded that his charges use this display as a springboard to climb the table.

Matterson said: "Everyone knows we can play some really good attacking football but our defence was also excellent today.

"There is no reason for us to be complacent – you just have to look at the table.

"But we are trying to get off the bottom and if we can continue playing like this then anything's possible."

the Tigers coach was delighted his side had not eased up after taking such a commanding lead.

He added: "We understood that Harlequins had a lot of difficulties, especially out wide and we took advantage of that.

"But we still had to perform – and I thought our forwards did a great job of laying the platform and the backs got their reward.

"We continued to be direct and we ran hard – it was great to watch."

Harlequins coach Brian McDermott refused to condemn his side, insisting it was merely a game too far for his young players.

McDermott, the former Leeds Rhinos assistant coach, said: "We have a lot of young players in there and you cannot leave them in there week-in, week-out.