COACH Steve Yates hailed “a real team effort” as Eagle extended their winning start to the season on Saturday.

They showed no signs of rustiness from an enforced week off as Congleton were thrashed 82-12, with Chris Bates and Ben Kenwright both scoring hat-tricks.

“This is our sixth win of the season with no losses – it is the best start we have had for a good few years,” Yates said.

“Despite the score, it was a real team effort that created the emphatic win.

“We came out to attack Congleton and that is how the first half panned out with a handful of well-worked tries.

“What we needed was quick ball to feed the backs and the pack gave us that, with Joe Miller adding a new dimension on his return.

“We didn’t give up or sit back and the team were able to run in two further tries.”

Eagle travel to West Park on Saturday – a rearranged date from last week’s postponed meeting.