MAITLAND are hoping history repeats itself after the Blacks collected their first Hunter Rugby Union minor premiership since 1999.
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Twenty three years ago, a Maitland outfit led by Rod Clarke, Christian Taylor and co went on to win the premiership, beating The Waratahs in the decider.
Many of those club legends were in the stands at Marcellin Park on Saturday as the Blacks came from 7-0 down to overpower defending champions Merewether 33-14.
The win was the Blacks' ninth straight and moved them to 58 points, 12 clear of the Greens with one round remaining.
"We talked about the need to win one more game [for the minor premiership] and we wanted it to be at Maitland," Blacks coach Luke Cunningham said.
"To do it in front of a lot of the old boys on reunion day was very special. There were a lot of guys from the '83 premiership side there ... Geoff Golledge, Tim O'Toole and Jack Lynch. It was really nice to do it in front of them and they hung around for a beer afterwards."
Maitland haven't won a premiership since 1999.
Hamilton have been the dominant force in the past two decades - wining five of the past six premiership - and haven't missed the play-offs since 1999.
That run looked buried before a miraculous comeback to beat University 38-32 at Bernie Curran Oval on Saturday.
They moved to 35 points, five behind fourth-placed Wanderers, who thrashed Southern Beaches 55-20 at No.2 Sportsground.
University picked up two bonus points in the loss to Hamilton, which pushed them to 41 points and confirmed a semi-final berth.
Wanderers hosts University in the final round and Hamilton meet Merewether at Townson Oval.
To jump above Wanderers, Hamilton need to collect a bonus-point win over Merewether and have the Two Blues lose to the Students without earning a bonus point.
They would both finish on 40 points, but Hamilton would progress on number of wins - seven to six.
The Hawks appeared dead and buried, trailing the Students 29-0 after 33 minutes and 29-7 at half-time.
"We didn't really speak about what happened in the first half," Hamilton captain Hamish McKie said. "We just said this is an opportunity to do something really cool. I can't recall every coming back from that big a scoreline."
Kiwi centre Tristan Flutely wriggled his way out of three tackles to score less than a minute after the break to spark the revival.
Two minutes later, University halfback Murray Sutherland took off from the base of a ruck and only had fullback McKie to beat when he snapped his hamstring.
From that point it was all Hamilton.
Ill-discipline cost University three players to the sin bin as the Hawks ran in three tries in 20 minutes to go ahead 31-29.
They extended the margin to 38-29 when Flutely completed a hat-tick in the 70th minute.
However, all wasn't lost for the Students. A late penalty goal by Dane Sherratt reduced the margin to six and secured a bonus point.
"It was bitter sweet," University coach Sam Berry said. "It was disappointing to lose like that. But we have sealed a place in the semis, which no-one tipped us to do at the start of the year.
"Losing Muzz (Sutherland) was massive. He sniped through and it would have been a foot race with Hamish McKie. With our fast guys out wide, we might have been able to get that try, which would have put the game away.
"Muzz is gone. His hamstring has snapped. It was a pretty tough day in the end. We lost a couple of players to injury and we copped four yellow cards."
At No.2 Sportsground, the backs scored all of the Two Blues' nine tries.
James Gardiner
James Gardiner, chief football and rugby writer at the Newcastle Herald.
James Gardiner, chief football and rugby writer at the Newcastle Herald.
