NATAL scraped a draw with Northern Transvaal yesterday to join Auckland, Wellington and Australian Capital Territory in the Super 12 championship semi finals.

The fight for the crucial second place behind a dominant Auckland in the league series will go down to the wire when ACT travel to Wellington next Sunday. The winners of the final round match will secure a vital home game in the semi finals.

ACT had to battle to preserve their home record before prevailing 48-34 over New Zealand's Waikato Chiefs in Canberra on Friday. ACT, into the semi finals for the first time in only their second season in the southern hemisphere provincial tournament, were five points clear of Wellington, but an admirable losing performance by Wellington against champions Auckland on Saturday, reduced the gap.

Auckland moved a whopping nine points clear of the field with a last minute penalty goal giving them an exhilarating 45-42 win at Eden Park. But Wellington picked up two bonus points, one for finishing within seven points of Auckland and the other for scoring five tries.