IT was a chastening night for Leigh Centurions as they suffered their third Super League defeat from as many games.

They ran into a red-hot Castleford Tigers outfit, who extended their perfect start to the season with a thumping win at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle.

A nightmare first half saw John Duffy's side turn around 34-0 down and despite second-half scores from Jordan Thompson, Ben Reynolds and Ryan Brierley, they were distinctly second-best.

The writing was on the wall for Leigh when Liam Watts burst through the middle of their defence and raced home from 30 metres to open the scoring for the hosts before Daniel Smith powered over, with Gareth O'Brien kicking the goal on both occasions

From then on, the visitors were stung by some delicious ball movement from Daryl Powell's side, resulting in tries for wingmen Derrell Olpherts and Greg Eden before Niall Evalds finished off a Grant Millington break through the middle.

When Tigers skipper Michael Shenton scored his side's sixth try just before the break, the game was all but won.

Indeed Cas had already notched again through Jordan Turner before Leigh finally got on the scoreboard as Thompson crashed over from a short ball on the right edge.

When Jesse Sene-Lefao was then sin-binned for a late hit on Tyrone McCarthy, more points seemed likely.

They came, but for the 12-man hosts as Olpherts sprinted clear from a quick 20m restart before Jake Trueman took them past the half-century mark.

There was time for Reynolds and Brierley to get themselves on the scoresheet, but it was too little too late.