A last-gasp missed conversion attempt by Nick Evans let the Hurricanes slip away with a hard-earned 22-21 win over the Highlanders in a Super 14 rugby match in Wellington tonight.

Evans was presented with the chance to keep the Highlanders' faint hopes of a semifinals spot glowing after he set up the try for second half substitute Toby Morland in the dying seconds of the game.

But from a wide angle, his attempt drifted wide of the near post to the delight of about 19,000 home fans.

Evans had been a dominant figure in the game as he bagged 16 of his side's points from a try, three penalties and a conversion.

Hurricanes skipper Rodney So'oialo admitted afterwards it had been pretty hard to watch Evans line up for what would have been a winning conversion.

Evans' Hurricanes counterpart, Jimmy Gopperth, was equally influential on his return to Colin Cooper's run-on side for the first time in weeks.

Gopperth created an opportunistic try with his feet, chipping over the defence and then on-kicking twice and showing a turn of pace to beat fullback James Wilson to dive on the ball for a 34th minute try.

Tonight's win moved the Hurricanes above the Highlanders in the table in the battle to avoid the dubious distinction of being the worst performed New Zealand side in the 2007 season.

But it comes too late to put last year's finalists, who play the Waratahs in their last match of the season next week, in contention for the semifinals.

In the battle of the halfbacks, Piri Weepu and Jimmy Cowan mostly cancelled each other out.

Weepu's accuracy with penalties helped the Hurricanes to establish first half dominance.

He kicked four to give the Hurricanes the upper hand at halftime to Evans' try, two penalties and a conversion.

Tana Umaga, in his second to last appearance in Super rugby, was a delight to watch as he showed the polish of old in attack and defence but his night was blotted when he was sin-binned in the first half for interfering with the ball after making a try-saving tackle.

Umaga was at the heart of the Hurricanes' try in the second half, touching the ball three times before wing Hosea Gear fended off Anton Oliver as he jinked through a flat defence from 10 metres out for his try.

But the Highlanders were never really out of a scrappy match.

A sustained period on attack finally breached the Hurricanes' defence as Evans picked his way through a gap to off-load the ball to Morland as time on the clock ran down.

The Highlanders play the Brumbies in Dunedin in their last round robin match next week.

Result of a Super 14 rugby match played in Wellington tonight:

Hurricanes 22 (Jimmy Gopperth, Hosea Gear tries; Piri Weepu 4 pen) Highlanders 21 (Nick Evans, Toby Morland tries ; Evans 3 pen, con). Halftime: 17-13.