Cleckheaton 15, Bees 48 - Cleckheaton may be in their second season in North Division One. But this display by the Bees had some of their experienced spectators shaking their head in amazement.

One said: "That's the best display of rugby by any team I've ever seen down here", while another said: "I don't think the Bees will lose a game this season."

However, these judgements should be tempered by several things. North One is a hard slog of a division, and the Bees prefer a top-of-the-ground sort of day than a muddy pitch in midwinter.

But the most relevant comments came from seasoned Cleckheaton second-row John Dudley, who said: "They (the Bees) probably will be champions, but it depends on their squad strength. If the 18 they fielded against us are their only players who can compete at this level then they might struggle if they get injuries."

The Bees though would be swift to point out that with props Roger Raper and Andy Smith, second row Richard Hughes, centres Steve McManus and Rob Padgett (who can also play flanker) and winger Asa Firth all selected for their Barbarians (second XV) line-up at the weekend, they are in a better position than last season to cope with injury setbacks.

It is said that you learn more from your defeats than your victories, and the hard-working former Rotherham stalwart Dudley admitted: "We have to play a little bit more with our heads up. The Bees were a well drilled and well organised outfit, and we didn't commit enough players to the breakdown at times.

"The way they play they always seemed to have men over, and we'll just have to work a bit harder in training at getting to the breakdown and on our defence."

Cleckheaton went into the derby, watched by about 600, not only with an unbeaten record at home, but also an unbeaten record overall. They were conceding 14.25 points per game on average before this encounter.

However, they had shipped that many points by the 24th minute as tries went to No 8 Chris Halau'ifa and centre Stuart Dixon.

Captain Tom Rhodes converted after Cleckheaton had taken an early lead with a penalty by Alex Green, but they trailed by 16 points at half-time as full back Joe Simpson and scrum half Joe Nau added tries for the Bees, Rhodes landing another conversion.

The hosts did capitalise on a rare Bees mistake for their first try, right winger James Marshall scoring from long distance and Green converting.

The Bees comfortably maintained their 100 per cent record with further tries by impressive left winger Jon-Paul Rimington, Dixon - from a beautiful delayed pass by Rhodes - and Simpson. Rhodes added two conversions and a drop goal.

The Bees may be front-runners in North One, but it's early days yet. Chester are also unbeaten, and though the play-offs seem a more realistic target for Cleckheaton, they are still in the mix for top spot along with the Bees and West Park St Helens.