It is an all-New Zealand Final

The Highlanders made it an all-New Zealand Super Rugby Final when they beat the Waratahs 35-17 in the semifinal in Sydney on Saturday.

It was a victory of skill over brute force, as the Highlanders outscored the defending-champion Waratahs by five tries to one.

The Highlanders will meet the Hurricanes in Wellington next week to decide the winners of the 23rd edition of the Southern Hemisphere's franchise championship.

The Highlanders executed their game plan to perfection to throw the Waratahs out of their playing rhythm, leading 15-14 at half-time.

It will be the first all Kiwi Super Rugby Final since 2006 when the Crusaders beat the Hurricanes 19-12.

The Highlanders dictated play with their tactical kicking and structured forward play to register their first win in Sydney in eight years.

While the Higlanders were full value for their win, the out-of-sorts Waratahs contributed to their downfall with shoddy handling and 18 turnovers in one of their worst performances of the season.

The Highlanders trailed the Waratahs 15-17 after 50 minutes, but the Kiwis scored 20 unanswered points leaving them convincing winners.

The Highlanders' tries were scored by impressive scrumhalf Aaron Smith, Richard Buckman, Waisake Naholo and Patrick Osborne – while South African referee Craig Joubert awarded a contentious penalty try, when Jacques Potgieter was given a yellow card for a swinging arm in a tackle on Osborne near the Waratahs try-line.

Flyhalf Lima Sopoaga kicked two conversions, a penalty goal and a drop-goal.

The Waratahs scored their only try through wing Rob Horne in the 11th minute and flyhalf Bernard Foley landed four penalties.

Aaron Smith snapped up a loose pass from Wycliff Palu off the back of a Waratah scrum win to score the Highlanders'sfirst try and centre Richard Buckman bounced out of a couple of tackles to score late in the opening half.

Two of the Highlanders' tries came off kicks – with wing Waisake Naholo moving off his own chip-kick and wing Osborne latching on to Sopoaga's kick for the corner to score.

"We got it right and we have a big challenge ahead of us next week," Highlanders skipper Ben Smith said.

"Our forward pack is way under-rated, they have big tickers and are skillful players and every week you know what you're getting from them.

"Aaron Smith turned them around in the dewy conditions to keep the ball behind the Waratahs."

Waratahs skipper Dave Dennis said the Highlanders were tactically sound.

"We got beaten by a better team, they kicked very well tactically and put us under a lot of pressure and we put ourselves under pressure as well and didn't get much rhythm in the game."

Man of the match: Israel Folau had a few impressive runs, Adam Ashley-Cooper did some good work on attack and on defence and Bernard Foley directed play well for the Waratahs. Michael Hooper was good when he didn't try to niggle the opposition, Jacques Potgieter was physical but blighted his copybook with a yellow card and penalty try. You never look much further than Ben Smith and Malakai Fekitoa. Lima Sopoaga was also sublime in directing traffic.  Then there were the usual workhorses up front – Nasi Manu, Elliot Dixon, Mark Reddish and Liam Coltman. However, it was the energy and skill – not to mention his ability to read the game and make the right decisions – that earned Highlanders scrumhalf Aaron Smith our award.

Moment of the match: The Waisake Naholo try in the 54th minute – when he showed sublime individual skills, a grubber and chase, to score despite off-the-ball interference – is worth considering. However, the turning point was the penalty try and yellow card against Jacques Potgieter in the 58th minute that turned the game – after the Tahs' South African loose forward was ruled to have illegally used a swinging arm to stop a probable try.

Villain of the match: We feel Will Skelton and Michael Hooper deserve this for their attempts at bullying the Highlanders through off-the-ball shenanigans.

The scorers:

For the Waratahs:

Try: Horne

Pens: Foley 4

For the Highlanders:

Tries: A Smith, Buckman, Naholo, Penalty try, Osborne

Cons: Sopoaga 2

Pen: Sopoaga

DG: Sopoaga

Yellow card: Jacques Potgieter (Waratahs, 58 – foul play, swinging arm)

Teams:

Waratahs: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Matt Carraro, 11 Rob Horne, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Jacques Potgieter, 5 David Dennis (captain), 4 Will Skelton, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.

Replacements:  16 Tolu Latu, 17 Jeremy Tilse, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 Mitchell Chapman, 20 Stephen Hoiles, 21 Brendan McKibbin, 22 Jono Lance, 23 Peter Betham.

Highlanders: 15 Ben Smith (co-captain), 14 Waisake Naholo, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Richard Buckman, 11 Patrick Osborne, 10 Lima Sopoaga, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Nasi Manu (co-captain), 7 James Lentjes, 6 Elliot Dixon, 5 Mark Reddish, 4 Alex Ainley, 3 Josh Hohneck, 2 Liam Coltman, 1 Brendon Edmonds.

Replacements: 16 Ash Dixon, 17 Daniel Lienert-Brown, 18 Ross Geldenhuys, 19 Joe Wheeler, 20 Gareth Evans, 21 Fumiaki Tanaka, 22 Trent Renata, 23 Shane Christie.

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)

Assistant referees: Andrew Lees (Australia), James Leckie (Australia)

TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)