The Canterbury Crusaders blew a 30-point lead before edging the Cats 39-37 and New South Wales downed the Wellington Hurricanes 49-31 in Super 12 rugby on Saturday.
The Cats ended a 13-match, 13-month losing streak last weekend, and looked set to post the upset of the year when they rallied from 36-6 down to lead Canterbury 37-36 five minutes from time.
But the former four-time champion Crusaders drove into the Cats' 22 in the final minute, earned an offside penalty, and All Black center Daniel Carter kicked his sixth goal to lift his side to third in a crowded standings.
After nine rounds, only eight points separate the top seven teams, which don't include the defending champion Auckland Blues or the 2003 semifinalist Hurricanes. There are three rounds left.
The idle ACT Brumbies remain leaders with 30 points, followed by the Stormers (28), Crusaders and Sharks (25 each), Chiefs (23), New South Wales and the Bulls (22 each).
On Friday, the Waikato Chiefs ended the Sharks' four-match winning streak 34-27, the Stormers inflicted the worst home loss on Auckland by 51-23, and the Bulls won in Australia for the first time at the expense of Queensland 23-17.
In Johannesburg, the Crusaders nearly lost a match that should have been sealed six minutes into the second half when Carter's second try gave the visitors a 36-6 lead.
"The Cats showed a lot of spirit," Crusaders captain Reuben Thorne said. "We started well, but we couldn't maintain that in the face of some really good play by the Cats. There were too many missed tackles, and we ended up just happy to get five points at Ellis Park."
In Sydney, the New South Wales Waratahs enjoyed their first home match in five weeks by denting Wellington's semifinal ambitions seven tries to four.
Tries to captain Tana Umaga and Brent Ward brought the Hurricanes back early in the second half but they trailed all the way. Rodney So'oialo's late try salvaged a bonus point for the New Zealanders.
The Waratahs led from the eighth minute when captain and halfback Chris Whitaker dummied over from close range after the first of many impressive forward surges from the New South Wales pack.
A converted try to wing Roy Kinikinilau brought the Hurricanes back to 8-7 but in a trend repeated throughout the match, the Waratahs struck back immediately -- through man-of-the-match Shaun Berne.
Flyhalf Berne's try came from collecting his grubber kick close to the line, highlighting a sound kicking display.
Umaga latched on to a stray Cameron Shepherd pass to narrow the score to 22-17 in the 45th but prop Matt Dunning barged over from a rolling maul in the 50th to bank the bonus point for the home side.
"We were sloppy at times, but we'll take it," Whitaker said. "We seemed to be able to turn it up a notch when we needed to."
Next Friday, the Chiefs host the Stormers. On Saturday the Crusaders play the Bulls, Otago and Wellington meet in Dunedin, New South Wales hosts the Brumbies, the Sharks play in Brisbane against Queensland and the Cats take on Auckland.
National Rugby League
Center Matt Cooper scored four tries in St. George Illawarra's 44-18 victory over reigning champions Penrith in Australia's National Rugby League yesterday.
Cooper touched down in the 23rd, 25th, 56th and 70th minutes to break the club's try-scoring record for one match as the Dragons ran away with the game in the second half.
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