Dominating possession but repeatedly running into a defensive brick wall in the Hurricanes' 22, the Waratahs were forced to conjure more creative avenues to the goal-line and set up all four of their tries with brilliant foot skills and hard running.

The Hurricanes, who defended tenaciously while under siege for much of the evening, had their postseason hopes extinguished by fullback Kurtley Beale and winger Drew Mitchell, who scored a try each in both halves.

"We did the hard work and the guys hung in reasonably well," Waratahs skipper Phil Waugh said in a televised interview.

"I thought the backs were exceptional... Kurtley chimed in the backline there and (was) making things happen, so it's good to be in the forward pack (when it's) like that."

The Waratahs will have to wait for the result of the Stormers-Bulls match in South Africa on Saturday to determine their semifinal opponents.

The teams traded early penalty goals but the Waratahs seized the initiative with a series of fierce drives that pushed the Hurricanes to the goal-line but no further.

Beale broke the stalemate with a deft chip over opposite number Cory Jane that allowed him to gather the ball and charge across the goal-line in the 16th minute.

Lachie Turner then chipped into space in midfield, gathered a kind bounce and delivered a 30-meter pass into the arms of fellow winger Drew Mitchell who streamed over the line at the left corner to make it 18-6.

Piri Weepu pegged the score back to 18-9 with a penalty goal on the stroke of half-time, but any notion of a Hurricanes fightback was snuffed out shortly after the break.

Mitchell showed off his own kicking skills by dribbling a little pass at the 22 to Rob Horne, then received it back from the outside centre to cross for his second try five minutes into the half.

Beale capped off the kick-fest with a woeful grubbed ball in heavy traffic that somehow evaded the Hurricanes defense and willingly popped up in his arms to allow him to cross for his second six minutes later.

Trailing 32-9 with 13 minutes remaining, the Hurricanes were offered a glimmer of hope when Turner was sin-binned to leave the Waratahs undermanned, but replacement David Smith's 74th-minute try came too late to stall their opponents' cruise to victory.
 

 The Canterbury Crusaders found form at the perfect time to defeat the ACT Brumbies 40-22 in Christchurch on Friday and seal a place in the Super 14 semifinals.

The Crusaders, coming off three straight losses on the road, were at their clinical best in the do-or-die match, scoring five tries to seal a bonus point and defending ruthlessly to kill off the Brumbies' postseason ambitions.

Winger Zac Guildford was instrumental in the win, setting up two tries and scoring one himself a few minutes from time.

The Brumbies, who had worked their way back into semi-final contention with wins in their last two games, clawed back to 22-15 through a Ben Alexander try a few minutes after the break, but were denied victory in flanker George Smith's final match before retirement.