Hurricanes down Reds to keep finals hopes alive

Highlanders and Hurricanes both powered to victory on Friday to keep alive their hopes of making the Super Rugby Trans-Tasman final, with their fate now resting on what happens on the last day of action.

The 'Canes did everything asked for in a 43-14 bonus-point hammering of the Reds at home, while the Highlanders put Brumbies to the sword 33-12 in freezing Canberra, also banking maximum points.

It left the Highlanders top of the table on 23 points, two clear of the Hurricanes.

Whether they make the final next weekend depends on what happens Saturday when the Blues (19 points) face Western Force and Crusaders (18 points) take on the Melbourne Rebels.

Both New Zealand sides are unbeaten and their opponents have yet to win.

"I'm over the moon, it's unbelievable. We've given ourselves our best shot to make the final," said Highlanders co-captain Aaron Smith after the five tries to two win.

"Six weeks ago we committed to wanting to try and make the final, have back-to-back wins, improve the team and build some consistency so I'm absolutely pumped."

The Brumbies started well with outside centre Len Ikitau diving over in the corner on 15 minutes.

But the lead didn't last after Allan Alaalatoa gave away a penalty and Ash Dixon flopped over from a rolling maul off the ensuing line-out.

The Highlanders struck again after an injection of pace from Jona Nareki who offloaded to Smith for the score.

The Brumbies closed the gap to 14-12 at halftime when hooker Lachlan Lonergan dotted down from a lineout set-piece. But Smith bagged his second six minutes after the restart and Billy Harmon added a fourth try.

Patelesio Tomkinson then grabbed what could have been a crucial fifth for the bonus point as the Highlanders desperately hung on at the end.

In Wellington, the Hurricanes bagged six tries to two against the Reds, finishing strongly after a narrow 10-7 halftime lead.

"We've done what we can and now we've just got to wait," Hurricanes captain Ardie Savea said. "We wanted to come out here and put on a performance we could be proud of and we did that."

Hurricanes centre Ngani Laumape opened the scoring after five minutes with a trademark tackle-busting run.

Both backlines found themselves with plenty of room, and Reds halfback Tate McDermott darted from the back of a scrum to even up the score after a period of sustained pressure.

A Jordie Barrett penalty made it 10-7 for the hosts at the break and they were a man up soon after the restart when Reds winger Filipo Daugunu was sinbinned for an offside tackle.

The Hurricanes capitalised with a Ruben Love try, but the Reds hit back immediately through Brandon Paenga-Amosa.

The Hurricanes pulled away when Dane Coles dotted down and they were then awarded a penalty try.

A fifth try for the Hurricanes from Devan Flanders ensured the hosts earned a bonus point before Coles' second blew out the score further.