The Maitland Blacks put a tumultuous week off the field behind them with victories in all five grades on the weekend.
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The Blacks first graders weathered a torrent of attack by Lake Macquarie in the second half after setting up victory with a 19-6 first half.
Maitland conceded its first try only minutes for full-time to run out 26-11 winners.
After showing his attacking skills last week, Josh McCormack showed he is just as strong in defence.
His organisation skills allowed the Blacks to continue to press forward hard in defence and he also pulled on a couple of try savers.
Rob Williamson scored a double. His second-half effort was the highlight of the the match. He pulled off a try saving tackle. James Curran stole the ball from the ruck and then put Williamson across with a pass.
The Blacks did not know whether they would be playing until Friday, after the NHRU pulled back from its decision to ban Maitland, Merwether-Carlton and divisional team Singleton Army for playing unregistered players last week.
Maitland are contesting the charge pointing to on-going difficulties and anomalies in the registration process through the Australian Rugby Union’s RugbyLink website.
The Blacks won 41-10 in second grade, 92-0 in third grade and 28-7 in Colts on Saturday.
They started the round with a 31-5 win by fourth grade on Friday night.