Rugby: Waratahs still in hunt for semis

The NSW Waratahs kept their Super 14 finals hopes flickering with a hard-fought 16-12 win over the Sharks in Durban this morning (NZT).

A fortuitous try to late inclusion Peter Playford 16 minutes from fulltime earned NSW their second straight win in South Africa and lifted the Waratahs to sixth place on the ladder - just one point adrift of the top four entering next weekend's last round.

The Waratahs must now beat the lowly Lions in Johannesburg next Saturday and hope other results go their way in order to squeeze into the playoffs.

Their best chance is for the Sharks to topple the Bulls in Durban and the Blues to score a home win over the fourth-placed Crusaders in Auckland.

The Waratahs should be thankful, though, just to be still in the hunt.

Trailing 12-11 as the clock wound down at ABSA Stadium, Playford - a late replacement for the injured Rob Horne - couldn't believe his luck when Stefan Terblanche made a meal of his attempt to clean up Kurtley Beale's grubber kick into the Sharks in-goal area.

The Sharks fullback's airswing as he tried to kick the ball into touch gifted the easiest of tries to Playford - and gave the Waratahs a lead they refused to relinquish over the tense final quarter hour.

The Waratahs had held a slender 8-6 advantage at the break, courtesy of Timana Tahu's only try of the first half in the 30th minute and an early penalty goal to Daniel Halangahu.

It was a well deserved five-pointer for Tahu, who was clearly the Tahs' most dangerous attacker in the opening stanza.

The classy centre had already made two clean breaks before his shimmy and offload took the Waratahs to within a few metres of the Sharks line.

The dual international did well to then back up to collect Benn Robinson's pass and dive over in the right-hand corner.

But two penalty goals from Ruan Pienaar kept the Sharks in touch before a third four minutes after the interval nudged the home side in front 9-8.

The Waratahs seemed set to bag their second try shortly after, only for Kurtley Beale to be brought down metres before the Sharks line.

The opportunity looked lost when Phil Waugh then knocked on, but the Waratahs were granted a relieving penalty, enabling Halangahu to restore their two-point lead.

The Sharks mounted a spirited recovery, though, and only some desperate Waratahs defence kept the South Africans at bay.

In ten anxious minutes for the Tahs, Sharks prop Bismarck du Plessis knocked on over the line, Playford pulled off a trysaving tackle on wing opposite Odwa Ndungane and Springbok flyer JP Pieterson was denied a try because of a double movement.

After withstanding the onslaught, Playford's slice of luck got the Waratahs home.

- AAP