Saturday's Super Rugby round-up: Waratahs, Blues, Lions earn victories; Stormers & Crusaders draw

Recap all of Saturday's Super Rugby action as the Waratahs win at the Reds and the Blues beat the Chiefs.

Reds 32-40 Waratahs

Flyhalf Bernard Foley contributed 25 points as the New South Wales Waratahs snapped a three-game losing streak by beating the Queensland Reds in a hardfought Super Rugby contest in Brisbane.

Brushing aside the distraction of Israel Folau's sacking by the team on Friday, the 2014 champions secured an 11th straight win in a rivalry that dates back to 1882 to remain in the hunt for the Australian conference title.

Wallabies pivot Foley scored his side's first try, nailed all four conversions and slotted four penalties in the last 20 minutes to secure the win after a topsy-turvy contest at Lang Park.

The Reds will think they deserved better after scoring six tries but rue the place-kicking of their flyhalf Bryce Hegarty, who crossed for two five-pointers himself but left 10 points on the park through five missed conversions.

Blues 23-8 Chiefs

Blues prop Ofa Tuungafasi scored a controversial second half try that gave his side enough breathing room at Eden Park to beat fellow New Zealand side the Chiefs for the first time since 2011.

Tuungafasi appeared to lose control of the ball as he dived for the line but referee Glen Jackson and television match official Glenn Newman agreed there was no reason to overturn the original decision to award the try.

Harry Plummer, Melani Nanai grabbed first half tries and Gerard Cowley-Tuioti scored after the hooter for the home side, who had lost 14 and drawn one of their clashes with the Chiefs since a 16-13 victory in Hamilton in 2011.

Mitch Karpik scored the Chiefs' only try after an error by Reiko Ioane in defence when the All Blacks winger tried to pop the ball back to a team mate while on his tryline and the flanker was able to snatch it and flop over.

Lions 38-29 Highlanders

Electric loose-forward Kwagga Smith scored two tries as the Lions defeated the Otago Highlanders in a thrilling clash at Ellis Park that was in the balance until late on.

The killer blow for the home side came when wing Courtnall Skosan crossed with a minute remaining and the win moved the Lions to 30 points and into the play-off positions.

Fullback Andries Coetzee and replacement flyhalf Shaun Reynolds also crossed for the Lions, who led 14-12 at halftime and managed to keep up the tempo to the end, exhausting their opponents.

Wings Sio Tomkinson and Jordan Hyland, lock Thomas Franklin, fullback Matt Faddes and flyhalf Josh Ioane scored tries for the Highlanders, who slipped to a sixth defeat of the campaign.

Stormers 19-19 Crusaders

A last-gasp kick from Jean-Luc du Plessis ensured a thrilling draw for the struggling Stormers as they held the Crusaders at Newlands on Saturday.

The log leaders outscored their hosts by three tries to one but the Stormers kept in touch with successful penalties and were able to come back from 19-10 down just after the break.

The Crusaders' tries came from Matt Todd, David Havili and substitute Braydon Ennor after Siya Kolisi had scored first to give the Stormers early hope.

Key were successful penalties from Joshua Stander (2) and then his replacement Du Plessis (2).