The Blacks' cause was further boosted with Singleton recording an upset 48-21 win against Port Stephens to give Maitland an eight point break on their chief rival for the fourth spot in the finals.

Maitland has a bye this weekend before what shapes as a season-defining game against the Gropers at Bill Strong Oval on August 7.

Davidson was in the type of form which saw him claim the 2015 Anderson Medal as the best player in Newcastle Rugby.

"Nick had a stand out game, but really no one had a bad game," Blacks co-coach Luke Cunningham said.

"Chris Logan was dangerous with the ball in his hands, Pat Batey controlled the game very well.

"Hugues de Rocquigny and Jono Wotton both had really strong games, they were both good in support and made some very strong runs.

"Our scrum was really good, our front row was really solid and Sam Callow in the line outs, considering how windy it was, was really good as well."

De Rocquigny scored a rare double along with fullback Jayden Wright. Dale Clacherty, Batey, Callow and Ben Taylor also chimed in with five-pointers in the eight tries to four victory.

Batey was on song with the boot landing five conversion in tricky conditions.

The size of the Blacks' win was a pleasant surprise for Cunningham who now has his sights set on the game against Nelson Bay.

"I expected it to be a lot closer than it was considering they were someone who were biting at our heels for that fourth spot," he said.

"I was more than happy to not only win, but win the way we did was excellent.

"If we win our next game against Nelson Bay it assures us our spot in the top four."

Cunningham said the next three games for the Blacks - Nelson Bay, University and Merewether Carlton - were all about "fine-tuning the smaller parts of our game and working on our structures, our shapes and our plays."

"The last few weeks I've felt we have really progressed as a team. I know we got beaten there a couple of times against Wanderers and Hamilton but the shape and the structure we've been trying to play all year is starting to show," he said.

"You can tell the boys are working really hard to stick to it and that's showing in passages when we look really good with the ball in hand.

"Similarly in defence we are taking space off the opposition at times as well.

"The next few weeks are about putting a few things in place so that we do that for the full 80 minutes rather than 10 minute bursts."