But the fight goes on to have points restored from their win against University which were docked by the Newcastle Hunter Rugby Union on a charge of playing an unregistered player.

“It was good to win. It was a tough week we still didn’t know on Thursday if we were playing or not,” Blacks co-coach Mick Hickling said.

“To get the win takes us to four from four and we’ll see what happens with the appeal. We get a bye next week it comes at a good time as a few of the boys are a bit sore.”

The man at the centre of that controversy Chris Logan was among the Blacks’ best as the first grade team overcame a battering by Lake Macquarie’s huge forward pack.

The forwards were impressive, especially in the absence of skipper Michael Howell and Theo Risley, holding their own in the scrum and winning one against the feed.

“They outweighed us by probably 10kg a man today, but no one was intimidated,” Hickling said.

Joe Lavis was in everything in the absence of centre partner Jye Estatheo, with Hickling praising his soft hands in passing for setting up several attackd 

The Blacks 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 from 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, before James Curran stole the ball from the ruck and then put Williamson across with a pass.

It typified the united response from the playing group in response to the NHRU’s action.

All senior grades and the women’s team stood as one after training on Thursday to show their support for club president Ben Emmett and the board’s fight to play on Saturday and to have their points restored.

The Blacks did not know whether they would be playing until Friday, after the NHRU pulled back from its decision to ban them for playing an unregistered player 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.

Hickling said he was particularly pleased with the team’s line speed in defence and communication.

“We struggled at times to get a good kick away, but our chase was always good and we were able to make something from it,” Hickling said.

“One of the things we have been working on a lot is every time we go down the opposition end we want to come away with points.

“I thought in the first half we did that. The problem was we spent too much of our time in our own half in the second half.”

The Blacks won 41-10 in second grade, 92-0 in third grade and 28-7 in Colts on Saturday. Fourth grade won 31-5 on Friday night.