A 45-metre field goal from Jono O’Toole has helped spark a 19-8 victory for the Maitland Blacks and kept their Newcastle and Hunter Rugby Union semi-final aspirations alive.
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O’Toole delivered the blow midway through the second half, breaking an 8-all deadlock with Easts and setting up a season-defining crucial clash with Merewether Carlton this weekend.
“They [those types of plays] are game changers,” Blacks coach Bobby Tynan said.
It was a tough affair played in wet, windy and dark conditions at Marcellin Park on Saturday, with the field goal part of the fullback’s nine second half points.
Penalty goals to O’Toole either side of the successful drop kick saw the Blacks even up an 8-5 half-time deficit before moving six points clear.
A second try to inside centre Josh Gray in the closing stages then sealed the win for the Blacks following back-to-back losses against University and Southern Beaches.
“A couple of times we missed out and if we score those tries we could have come away with a pretty convincing win, but in the end it was a good, tough win,” Tynan said.
“We knew it would be tough against those blokes and there were no short cuts out there.”
Gray opened the scoring in the round 11 encounter, but Easts capitalised on an error near the Blacks tryline and followed it with a long-range penalty goal to lead 8-5 at the main break.
But the hosts, playing in front of a 1999 club championship reunion crowd, finished the stronger and outscored their opponents 14-0 in the final 40 minutes.
“That [win] keeps us in he mix but now we have a massive game coming up,” Tynan said.
The seventh-placed Blacks (26) host fifth-placed Merewether Carlton (29) on Saturday in an effort to make the top five before tackling top two sides Hamilton (44) and Wanderers (53) both away in consecutive rounds.
Around the grounds and Nelson Bay upset The Waratahs 17-12, Merewether edged out University 19-14, Hamilton overcame Southern Beaches 31-24 while Wanderers remain undefeated after cleaning out Lake Macquarie 74-7.
In the lower grades on Saturday, the Blacks kept Easts scoreless in 72, 79 and 40 point efforts across seconds, colts and thirds respectively.
Maitland Blacks 19 (Josh Gray 2 tries; Jono O’Toole 2 penalties; O’Toole field goal) defeated Easts 8 (Alan Fepulai try; Junior Poloai penalty).
