THE Blackwater Basilisks will take a lot out of their 39 – 29 win against a strong travelling Colts side at Blackwater on the weekend.

Colts went into the game undefeated and with a near-full-strength side, and were therefore probably the favourites.

However with a full bench and the home ground advantage, the Basilisks were able to build a good lead by halftime and just hold onto it despite a late rally from the visitors.

The win means the Basilisks now know they have the personnel and the attacking flair to be able to match it with the best sides in the Central Queensland rugby union competition.

Notable for the Basilisks was outside centre and former premier league player in Brisbane Eric Smythe.

He had a hand in at least two tries and then added to it when he swooped onto a loose ball late in the second half before running 20 metres to score under the posts to seal the Blackwater win.

Rugby journeyman Grant “Shaggy” Collins also showed his experience with an excellent goal and strategic kicking game and a haul of 21 points for the night.

Coach Allan Hannah was clearly pleased by the victory but identified defence as an area where they needed to do more work.

“I think what showed today was that we are great when we have the ball in hand, but we were at twos and threes in defence,” he said after the game.

“We haven’t trained a lot on it so I think we are a bit disorganised, but it is something we are going to have to work on.”

“However I was really happy with the set pieces and our scrum in particular, I think we won all our scrums and a few of theirs as well.”