Conversely, Tigers were better than the 42-point margin of defeat implies, though they couldn't live with Leeds during spells in the game when the hosts upped the pace.

Tigers were up against it from the second minute, when hooker Scott Moore was sin-binned for a late challenge on kicker Kevin Sinfield.

Referee Thierry Alibert seemed willing to let the incident go, but a touch judge came on and once the penalty had been awarded, the yellow card was mandatory.

Tigers could have justifiable grumbles about the performance of Alibert and his assistants, but they contributed to their own downfall with poor discipline around the play-the-ball.

Cas defended spiritedly but – with an 11-7 penalty count against them – they had little ball and much of what possession they did enjoy was wasted by basic errors.

That meant the visitors simply had too much tackling to do and they inevitably ran out of steam at the end of each half.

Leeds scored some excellent tries, but they were sloppy at times. There were too many errors early in the tackle count and they eased off the gas in the third quarter.

A positive for Leeds was Ashley Gibson's first senior appearance since damaging a hamstring in the defeat at Castleford five months ago.

Gibson scored Rhinos' first try, played the full 80 minutes – starting on the wing and shifting into the centres – and looked solid throughout.

Versatile substitute Jordan Tansey's hat-trick was another plus, all three tries coming in contrasting fashion.

Ali Lauitiiti made a big impact off the bench and Rob Burrow was a lively attacking threat for the hosts, while Lee Smith had a big game on the right wing and his skill to create Rhinos' fourth try, for Carl Ablett, was as good as anything seen from Leeds this season.

Centre Michael Shenton impressed for Tigers, particularly on defence up against veteran rival Keith Senior.

Ryan McGoldrick also put himself about, creating both tries, and Awen Guttenbeil battled hard.

The writing was on the wall once Tigers had conceded two tries while Moore was off the field, though the scoreline was respectable up until the final 10 minutes.

Moments after Moore's departure, Peter Lupton pulled off a stunning try-saving tackle on Brent Webb, and then Jamie Peacock was held up over the line by Joe Westerman and Lupton.

But that was just delaying the inevitable and Burrow and Danny McGuire linked up to supply Gibson, who twisted over for his first try since March last year, Sinfield converting from the touchline.

On 10 minutes McGuire almost ghosted through, but was pulled down by Shenton.