The Hurricanes maintained their place at the top of the New Zealand conference in the most dramatic circumstances on Friday night as Ihaia West kicked the conversion of Ngani Laumape's injury time try to beat the Sharks 38-37 in an Investec Super Rugby thriller at Napier's McLean Park.

Down by nine points with just three minutes to play, Hurricanes captain Brad Shields turned to West to land a penalty before they had one more shot at taking the four competition points.

With composure, brute force and a great deal of patience, the Hurricanes worked their way up field, won a couple of penalties before they created an over-lap for Laumape to cross with the crowd of 13,000 cheering them on.

West then had to compose himself before sending the ball through the posts on his provincial home ground to give the Hurricanes their fifth win in a row.

A late replacement for Beauden Barrett, who was withdrawn on the morning of the match as a precautionary measure after he failed to shake a minor injury, West ended the night with 16 points while Laumape crossed twice.

It was a hard night for the Hurricanes with the Sharks showing their commanding win over the Blues was no one-off performance as they attacked at just about every opportunity, putting the home side under real pressure.

While it looked like they had done enough to win the match, the Hurricanes showed real character throughout the whole squad to come away with the win.

The bench was called on reasonably early in the second half and those players all made an impact, including replacement halfback Jamie Booth who was subbed on at halftime after TJ Perenara suffered a knee injury.

Behind 27-19 at the break, the Hurricanes opted to take the points that were on offer early in the second half but even when they did take the lead the Sharks would strike straight back such was the level of confidence they were playing with.

They now return to the Republic while the Hurricanes head back to Wellington where they will face the Chiefs at Westpac Stadium next Friday night.


Hurricanes 38 (Ngani Laumape 2, Jordie Barrett, Vince Aso tries; Ihaia West 2 con, 4 pen) Sharks 37(Lukhanyo Am 2, Louis Schreuder, Tyler Paul tries; Robert du Preez 3 pen, 4 con). HT: 19-27.