The prospect of a taxing assignment in South Africa holds no fears for the NSW Waratahs after they put the Hurricanes to the sword to lock up a Super 14 semi-final spot on Friday night.

Fullback Kurtley Beale and winger Drew Mitchell each had try-scoring doubles as NSW romped to a 32-16 bonus-point triumph in front 31,491 fans at the Sydney Football Stadium, the Waratahs' biggest crowd of their undefeated 2010 home campaign.

The Waratahs now must wait until the early hours of Sunday morning to learn whether they will host a money-spinning semi-final next weekend or have to travel to South Africa for the sudden-death play-offs.

They'll be sweating on the front-running Bulls - who will field a vastly understrength team for their last-round fixture - beating the second-placed Stormers in Cape Town.

That result would pit NSW against the Crusaders at the SFS, but a Stormers victory means the Waratahs would being facing the Cape Town-based team at Newlands.

A semi-final win for the `Tahs would likely mean a decider against the Bulls - and an unusual trip to Soweto for the final.

With the soccer World Cup looming, FIFA has taken temporary ownership of Loftus Versfeld, the high-veldt home of the Bulls where the defending Super rugby champions have won their past 18 matches.

In any case, NSW completed a rare hat-trick of wins in South Africa last year and also challenged the Bulls in Pretoria this season, leading coach Chris Hickey believing the Waratahs could get another result in the republic if required.

The Waratahs will go into camp in Sydney on Saturday night and watch the Bulls-Stormers fixture - which kicks off at 1.05am AEST - as a team.

"So we'll know about 3am what the result is," Hickey said.

"If we get the home semi, then everyone goes home and we come back on Monday. If not, we're packed and ready to jump on the plane at 10am on Sunday.

"We've managed to get a lot of things right when we do travel to South Africa and, if that's the trip we've got to make, then we've done it the last couple of seasons with a reasonable amount of success.

"So I guess you don't feel daunted by that task."

Regardless of where they play, the Waratahs will carry loads of confidence and momentum into the finals after ruthlessly reducing the Hurricanes to a breeze to abruptly halt the New Zealanders' five-game winning streak.

With the Brumbies' season over after their last-round 40-22 loss to the Crusaders earlier on Friday in Christchurch, the Waratahs needed to win to keep alive Australia's title hopes - and they didn't disappoint.

After trailing 6-3 early following two Piri Weepu penalty goals to Berrick Barnes' one, the Waratahs burst to life with a wonderful chip-chase try to Beale in the 15th minute.

Winger Lachie Turner chimed in with some chip-chase magic of his own to put man-of-the-match Mitchell over in the 32nd minute.

Weepu kept the Hurricanes in touch at 18-9 down at the break with a third penalty goal after the halftime siren.

But Beale and Mitchell quickly extinguished any Hurricanes comeback hopes with further tries off their own kicks in the opening 10 minutes of the second half.

Mitchell's brace bolted the former Queensland Red and Western Force flyer to the top of the tournament's try scorers' chart with nine for the season.

Making the Waratahs' victory more commendable was the fact that tough No.8 Ben Mowen spent Thursday night in hospital on a drip as he and veteran prop Al Baxter battled nasty gastro bugs.

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