Chiefs rout Waratahs

The Chiefs players, sporting sheer hair-cuts to raise money for charity, scored two tries after the break and conceded only three points to notch their fourth win of the season from five matches.

"It's good to get back in front of the home crowd and grind out a win," said Chiefs captain Craig Clarke in a pitchside interview.

"That's good to just be playing winning rugby, it's fun to be a part of (but) we're off on a road trip now and we've got a lot of hard work in front of us," added Clarke of their three-match tour of Australia and South Africa.

The Waratahs held more than 72 per cent of the territory in the first half but still found themselves trailing 13-10 at the break.

Winger Tom Kingston put the visitors on the board in the fifth minute with a try, slicing through a pack of players to take a quick inside pass and reaching his arms behind him to plant the ball on the line.

The Chiefs made the most of their few chances, however, and levelled at 7-7 after livewire winger Tim Nanai-Williams cut the Waratahs defence to shreds with a breathtaking run through midfield.

Nanai-Williams's incursion allowed the Chiefs to spread the ball wide where fullback Robbie Robinson crossed in the left corner.

Aaron Cruden slotted a 47-metre penalty kick to cancel out one from Brendan McKibbin a few minutes earlier and the All Black flyhalf drilled a second after Wycliff Palu strayed offside directly in front of the posts.

The Waratahs were frustrated by several fruitless drives to the line in the final minutes of the first half, and had the wind taken out of their sales minutes after the break when Sona Taumalolo crossed for the Chiefs' second try.

Sonny Bill Williams dribbled a poor kick straight into a defender's legs but the deflection cannoned into the path of charging outside centre Richard Kahui, who scooped up the ball and fed it wide to prop Taumalolo for a soft try in the right corner.

Cruden slotted his third penalty kick in the 62nd minute to stretch the advantage to 10 points and flanker Liam Messam delivered the match-sealing try five minutes later after a demoralising turnover by the Waratahs.

Replacement Sam Cane intercepted a pass out of a ruck intended for Sarel Pretorius and fed Tawera Kerr-Barlow, who sprinted down the right wing before passing inside to Messam for an easy try.

Cruden converted to maintain a perfect six-from-six kicking game and a fatigued Waratahs side never looked like clawing their way back into the game.

The Cheetahs (pictured) fought back after a withering first-half assault to storm home 47-38 over the Wellington Hurricanes in their Super Rugby match on Saturday.

The win at Wellington's Westpac stadium was a morale-boosting finish to the Cheetahs' tour of Australia and New Zealand, the Bloemfontein-based team returning home with a 2-2 record after a pair of gallant losses to the Canberra-based ACT Brumbies and the Canterbury Crusaders.

The Hurricanes ran over four tries to charge into a 32-11 lead by the 31st minute, but were stunned as the Cheetahs hit back with three of their own to finish level at the break.

Tighthead prop WP Nel ratcheted up the pressure with a try 15 minutes after half-time and loosehead Coeni Oosthuizen drove over the line in the 69th before the Cheetahs defended grimly to take the bonus point victory.

"It was definitely a great victory ... and it's a nice way to end off the tour," captain Adriaan Strauss said in a pitchside interview.

"They've got their never-say-die attitude ... It's a good place for us to start building on now for when we get home."

Hooker Dane Coles got the Hurricanes off to a flying start by shimmying past a defender to cross near the left post less than three minutes in.

Cheetahs inside centre Andries Strauss touched down near the right hand corner soon after, however, and was awarded the try after a lengthy television review.

The Hurricanes then capitalised on turnovers deep in their own territory to score three tries on the break.

Flyhalf Beauden Barrett slipped four tackles in an exhilarating 50-metre dash for the first, while fullback Andre Taylor streamed down the right wing to score the second.

Winger Julian Savea set up the third nine minutes from the break with a sprint down the left wing and a tidy offload inside to scrumhalf TJ Perenara who crossed left of the posts.

The Cheetahs began to hold their passes, however, and fullback Hennie Danniller and winger Ryno Benjamin each crossed near the right hand corner after the ball was quickly spread wide to cut the Hurricanes defence to shreds.

Oosthuizen barged over on the right to score his first try seconds before the halftime whistle.

Barrett scored 23 points for the Hurricanes, slotting the last of his four penalties in the 60th minute to have his team claw back to trail 40-38, but Oosthuizen's second try sealed a deserving win for the Cheetahs, who had dominated territory and possession throughout.

The Sharks survived a late challenge to break a 14-year drought in Canberra by grinding down the ACT Brumbies 29-26 in their Super Rugby match on Saturday.

The Brumbies' replacement Nic White snatched an 80th minute try and Christan Lealiifano's conversion put the home side within three points but the Sharks repelled a desperate drive after the whistle to notch their first win at Canberra Stadium since 1998.

"It was a great encounter, both teams played some real running rugby ... I'm very proud of the boys," Sharks captain Keegan Daniel said in a pitchside interview.

"We haven't had too much success here or in Sydney, so we're very happy to pull off a win here."

Fullback Riaan Viljoen scored a brace of tries in the first half and flanker Willem Alberts added another after the break before winger Lwazi Mvovo scored a fourth in the 62nd minute to give the Durban-based Sharks a bonus point.

The win was the Sharks' third from six matches in the season and was made easier by a pair of howling errors from the Brumbies.

The hosts were kicking themselves six minutes before halftime when winger Odwa Ndugane intercepted an ambitious pass and fed Viljoen for the Sharks' second try.

Another shambolic error in defence gifted the Sharks their third and a six-point lead four minutes after the break.

Flyhalf Matt Toomua knocked the ball out of the air back towards the Brumbies' try-line where winger Henry Speight fumbled, allowing Sharks flanker Alberts to poke the ball over with his foot and fall on top of it at the left post.

The match began as an arm wrestle, but Viljoen drew first blood for the Sharks with his first try in the 21st minute after receiving a long pass from a quickly taken penalty.

Fullback Jesse Mogg struck back for the Brumbies seven minutes later with an inspirational try, streaming down the right wing and collecting his own kick a few metres shy of the line before touching down under the posts.

The Brumbies held a one-point lead at halftime but were repeatedly denied after the break by desperate defence on the line.

The Sharks counter-attacked brilliantly after weathering a 15-phase assault that covered the breadth of their line, with lock Steven Sykes thundering down the left before dishing inside to jet-heeled winger Mvovo at the halfway mark.

Mvovo burned away from the chasing Pat McCabe to score his try and put the Sharks in front 27-19 with less than a quarter left.

White's unlikely last-gasp try, stepping a defender before crossing near the left corner, raised the hopes of baying fans at the stadium but prop Ben Alexander's desperate charge toward the line saw the ball spill free and allow the Sharks to boot it into touch to secure victory.

A fired-up Western Force showed little sympathy for an injury-ravaged Queensland Reds team as they thrashed the visiting Super Rugby champions 45-19 in Perth.

The Force scored two early tries to charge out to a 21-0 lead seven minutes before half-time and twisted the knife with another three after the break to notch their second win of the season amid four frustrating losses.

"Very enjoyable game," Force captain David Pocock said in a pitchside interview.

"(Inconsistency) is something that we've been trying to address and we've been working hard off the field... the challenge is to back it up next week."

The Reds, humiliated 61-8 by the Bulls in Pretoria last week, slumped to their third straight loss and are mired mid-table with a 3-3 record and a clutch of frontline players, including key playmaker Quade Cooper, sidelined for weeks.

The Perth-based Force lost to the Melbourne Rebels by a point the previous week after conceding a 21-point head-start and appeared determined to atone for the slow start, attacking with abandon from the outset.

Flyhalf James Stannard crossed near the left corner in the eighth minute, and although he limped off injured minutes later, the Force charged on to reap two penalty goals as the out-of-sorts Reds found new and inventive ways to fumble passes, miss targets and cough up turnovers.

Veteran lock Nathan Sharpe drove over the line from a ruck two metres out for the Force's second try in the 32nd minute.

A rare foray into Force territory saw the Reds awarded a penalty and captain James Horwill wave away a three-point shot at goal.

Prop James Slipper barged over at the left corner after a second penalty scrum to reward his captain, but flyhalf Dallan Murphy butchered the conversion kick and the Reds went into the half trailing 21-5.

Brett Sheehan dashed any hopes of a sustained Reds fightback by charging down a kick to set up a try for replacement flyhalf Ben Seymour, who sprinted 30 metres to touch down near the right corner.

Van Humphries clambered over for the Reds in the 51st minute, but an inspired kick stabbed low and across the ground by Seymour sat up perfectly for winger Samu Wara who charged down the right wing to score the Force's fourth try for a bonus point.

Number eight Matt Hodgson brought the Force's fifth try three minutes later to complete the rout.

Reds winger Dom Shipperley scored a late try after the whistle but it was of little consolation for the visitors, whose hopes of defending their title now appear precarious.

The Canterbury Crusaders staged a second-half fightback to defeat the Lions 23-13 at Ellis Park on Saturday to secure their third victory from five Super Rugby matches this season.

The Lions scored their only try four minutes before halftime as they claimed a 13-10 lead at the break but struggled to get out of their territory in the second period as the Crusaders forwards took control.

The New Zealanders regained the lead four minutes after the restart as wing Sean Maitland ran on to a good kick from fullback Israel Dagg after the Lions suffered a costly turnover deep in their own half.

Centre Tom Taylor, playing at flyhalf for much of the second period after Dan Carter went off, booted the conversion to make the score 17-13.

Taylor then failed with a 50-metre penalty attempt but made amends with three-point efforts in the 48th and 63rd minutes to wrap up victory.

"We were really disappointed with our start, we were really inaccurate. But we played with better intent in the second half after sitting back in the first half," Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder told a news conference.

"We had good field position and we wanted to be a lot more direct and go through the middle.

"But we absolutely let a bonus point slip because we were really inaccurate, which is frustrating."

Earlier, the South Africans dominated the first half as they kept possession for long periods.

There were a couple of promising breaks by the home side but captain and flanker Josh Strauss passed straight to an opponent with the try line in sight and lock Franco van der Merwe was held up by scrumhalf Andy Ellis on the brink of a touchdown.

Flyhalf Butch James booted the Lions in front after 19 minutes before Taylor replied two minutes later.

Crusaders wing Zac Guildford notched the opening try of the game in the 31st minute when he raced on to Carter's slick pass after excellent work by centre Robbie Fruean.

The Lions then bounced back as prop Pat Cilliers touched down after bursting away from the back of a ruck.

"The moments after half-time were the turning point. We just didn't control possession and we weren't accurate enough. It's very obvious our lineout's not working as we'd like and it's unacceptable," Lions coach John Mitchell said.

The struggling South Africans have won one of their five Super Rugby matches this season.

Stormers fly-half Peter Grant booted a late 45-metre penalty to seal a 20-17 victory over the Bulls in an all-South African Super 15 tussle at Newlands.

It was the fifth consecutive win for the Cape Town-based team and the league leaders, who have 24 points, remain the only unbeaten side in the competition.

The Stormers led 14-0 at halftime through three penalties from fullback Joe Pietersen and a try by hooker Tiaan Liebenberg.

The Pretoria-based Bulls replied with second-half tries by wing Bjorn Basson and centre Wynand Olivier, both converted by fly-half Morne Steyn.

Steyn, however, also missed two penalty attempts and that ultimately proved the difference between the sides.

The home team dominated the early exchanges and appeared to be on their way to a comfortable win when Liebenberg barged over for the opening try in the 40th minute.

Soon after halftime Bulls lock Flip van der Merwe received a yellow card for foul play, reducing the visitors to 14 men.

Instead of signalling a period of renewed Stormers dominance, the incident lifted the Bulls.

They hauled their way back to 17-17 before Grant's late penalty secured victory.