I am very fortunate that this job allows me to watch a lot of Rugby League over the course of a year, but never in my life have I ever seen a game like the one played between Leeds and Castleford last weekend.

You probably know the end score by now, the Rhinos won by 76 points to 12 but it was so bizarre that I feel a need to talk about it in more detail.

Let's look at the background to the match first. The last time these two teams met was back at The Jungle on May 15 when the Tigers were arguably the better team and yet lost in the last second to a Kevin Sinfield penalty.

Rhinos: yet more points

Both teams scored four tries and the scores were tied at 22-22 until Leeds were awarded a penalty near to the post with the hooter about to sound. It was heartbreaking for the Tigers and their supporters.

More recently, the Tigers have been one of the form teams in this competition winning four of their last five games and travelling to away games with a fearsome reputation. They had clocked up four straight away victories and went to Headingley Carnegie in confident mood.

They sat seventh in the table and had teams like Catalans, Harlequins and Warrington breathing down their necks in a bid to land a play-off place. It was possible that a win would have taken them as high as fifth, which is quite amazing for a team who finished 2008 bottom of the pile.

Terry Matterson was able to select some of his best men at Leeds and in Ryan McGoldrick , Michael Shenton, Rangi Chase, Ryan Hudson and Joe Westerman he had five great players as the bedrock of a strong team.

In fact, this was a team that will have sat and watched Huddersfield Giants beat St Helens in the Challenge Cup semi-final to qualify for Wembley and thought that it should have been them. They were very unlucky not to beat the Giants in the quarter-final and have over the course of 2009 developed into not just a good team to watch but also one that has the ability to play in the big games at the end of the year.

Coping

The game began at a good pace and the Tigers were able to match the Rhinos in most departments. Castleford's try after 14 minutes was a 40-metre effort and nothing suggested we were going to see a one-sided event.

After 20 minutes the Tigers led 6-4 and seemed to be coping with the pace and passes that Leeds were producing. I would guess that the odds of Leeds scoring 13 more tries in the next 60 minutes would have been about 100,000-1!

It is hard to say exactly what happened. Two Castleford players did lose the ball in the tackle inside their own half but that wasn't such a big issue. I think it was more to do with the atmosphere in the air.

I never visited the Coliseum, but I imagine the sound of the crowd in its heyday was similar to the eruption of noise we heard coming from the South Stand. We've heard it on several occasions over the last five years; sometimes the home supporters almost demand a try fest.

Do you remember the noise when they put 70 points past Wigan? It was similar to the time that they scored nine tries against the Reds and the Dragons in 2007.

Tragically for the loyal Tigers supporters who travelled to Leeds, it was almost exactly a year to the day since they conceded 10 tries. They were not the only ones that year as Wakefield were embarrassed in May as the man working the scoreboard pulled up 58 points for the home team.

There seems to be a chemical reaction that occurs possibly once or twice a year when the South Stand fuse with the players and they play in a super natural way.

Hard work

I would not want to take anything away from the hard work that the Leeds players put into improving their passing, catching or kicking. It was clearly evident that they are a team who like to demonstrate their skills.

However, it is the pace at which they are able to do these that sets them apart from the rest of the teams in this competition, especially when the weather is good and their groundsman has prepared them a fast track.

It is also worth pointing out that Castleford did not stop trying. In the 59th minute they worked so hard defensively that they forced a mistake from the Rhinos close to the Leeds try line. From the resulting scrum they passed the ball to their right side but dropped the pass. Ryan Hall scooped it up and ran 90 metres to score.

Other than to kick off, Castleford never touched the ball again. Leeds had exclusive use of the ball for the next 41 Play the Balls and scored another six tries. (It is worth noting that the Tigers did attempt two short kick offs which they contested but lost).

From then on they just kicked it deep and it was like watching a small surf board being tossed around by giant waves as the Rhinos ran all over them.

All I can say is good luck to the Celtic Crusaders in Newport this week. You'll need it!

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