The Canterbury Crusaders played their way into an all-New Zealand Super 12 final by beating the best of South Africa's club sides, the mighty Coastal Sharks 36-32, yesterday.

With their tactical toughness frustrating a huge challenge from the Durban-based Sharks, Canterbury won the thriller in the first half then hung on desperately as the Sharks bit back hard.

The visitors scored five fluent tries to the Crusaders' four, but the boot of All Black flyhalf Andrew Mehrtens made the difference - two of his long-range penalty goals were the first and last scores of the game.

Canterbury go on to meet reigning champions the Auckland Blues in the final of the tri-national competition at Eden Park, Auckland, next Saturday.

Standout players alongside Mehrtens included right wing Norm Berryman, whose vitality found him the space and opportunity to score two of the Crusaders' three early tries, and replacement fullback Daryl Lilley who secured a vital second-half try to claw back the lead for his side.

The Sharks, rebounding after an appalling first 20 minutes, dominated possession for the rest of the game under the expert direction of Springbok captain Gary Teichmann.

He steered the ball to prop Ollie le Roux for two of his trademark power tries from close in, and in partnership with New Zealandborn scrum-half Kevin Putt brought a hungry back line into play for three more tries early in the second half.

Shaun Payne, Stefan Terblanche and Putt all took the ball over the scoreline to finally give the Sharks an impressive six point lead at 32-26 after 65 minutes.

As the Crusaders pushed back, a 10-minute sending off for Boeta Wessels stalled the South African challenge. In the ensuing Canterbury drives close to the line, the ball moved out wide to Lilley for the vital try that proved the game winner.

A late penalty from Mehrtens sealed the final result in a pulsating Test-match atmosphere in front of 38,000 at Lancaster Park.