The Waratahs took a confident step towards the Super14 play offs with a 19- 46 bonus point victory over the Chiefs in Hamilton.
Last year's finalists will end their 2010 season without a win at home in Hamilton as they play the Blues in Auckland next week. The Waratahs host the Hurricanes in Sydney next week.
The Waratahs moved into third place behind the Stormers on points difference which pushed the Crusaders out of the top four.
The Waratahs outscored the Chiefs by seven tries to three but the Chiefs three tries came late in the match when the Waratahs had already convincingly won the match.
The match was a must-win game for the Waratahs in the penultimate round of pool play and after not winning out of Australia all year they responded to the challenge with seven tries, to ensure a bonus point.
By halftime they had a commanding 20-0 lead, showing no hangover from last week's shock loss to cellar-dwellers the Highlanders, and while the Chiefs bagged three late tries the result was never in doubt.
"It was pleasing coming off our very disappointing performance last week to perform like we did tonight. I'm really very proud of the guys," captain Phil Waugh said.
"Discipline was very good, we stuck to our strategy and our patience was good and we came away with some good points early in the game which is very important."
The success or otherwise of the Waratahs season will now come down to their final round-robin game against New Zealand top four contenders the Hurricanes next weekend with the winner confirming a spot in the play-offs.
For the Chiefs, who failed to fire on attack or defence for the first 60 minutes, the abysmal performance summed up their year.
They opened the season with the form that took them to the grand final last year as they won their first three games, all on the road, but then they went downhill and failed to win any of six matches at home.
The Waratahs signalled their intentions from the kick off, chipping the ball behind the flat Chiefs backline to turn the defenders around.
It was a move that paid dividends in the fourth minute when Drew Mitchell cut loose on halfway and when the defence closed in he kicked ahead and won the race for the ball.
Ben Mowen scored following a sustained Waratahs build up in which the Chiefs ran out of tacklers before the big backrower ran 22 metres to the line.
Tatafu Polota-Nau was driven over from the lineout and Berrick Barnes added a conversion and a penalty to give the Waratahs a handsome 20-0 lead at the turn.
Barnes scored the bonus-point try immediately play resumed with a gift intercept when the Chiefs were slow to clear the ball and he ran 40 metres to the line.
The Chiefs tightened their defence and slowly worked their way into the game and were rewarded with a try out wide to industrious fullback Tim Nanai-Williams.
The Waratahs responded with tries to Kurtley Beale and Lachie Turner to stretch their lead to 39-5 before outside centre Jackson Willison scored twice in the closing minutes for the Chiefs.
Final Score Chiefs 19 Waratahs 46
Scorers
Chiefs
Tries - T Nanai-Williams, J Willison 2
Pen -
Con - C Bruce, D Sweeney
Drop -
Cards -
Waratahs
Tries - D Mitchell, B Mowen, T Polota-Nau, B Barnes, K Beale, L Turner, D Fitzpatrick
Pen - B Barnes
Con - B Barnes 2, D Halangahu 2
Drop -
Cards -
Match Officials
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Vinny Munro (New Zealand), Matthew Stanish (New Zealand)
Television match official: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)
Teams
Chiefs - 15 Tim Nanai-Williams, 14 Dwayne Sweeney, 13 Richard Kahui, 12 Jackson Willison, 11 Jason Hona, 10 Callum Bruce, 9 Junior Poluleuligaga, 8 Colin Bourke, 7 Tanerau Latimer, 6 Liam Messam (c), 5 Kevin O'Neill, 4 Craig Clarke, 3 Nathan White, 2 Hika Elliot, 1 Sona Taumalolo.
Reserves: 16 Aled de Malmanche, 17 Ben Afeaki, 18 Culum Retallick, 19 Luke Braid 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Phil Burleigh, 22 Save Tokula.
Waratahs - 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Tom Carter, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Berrick Barnes, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Ben Mowen, 7 Phil Waugh (c), 6 Patrick McCutcheon, 5 Kane Douglas, 4 Dean Mumm, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Reserves: 16 Damien Fitzpatrick, 17 Dan Palmer/ Jeremy Tilse, 18 Chris Thomson, 19 Dave Dennis, 20 Josh Holmes, 21 Daniel Halangahu, 22 Sosene Anesi.
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