Canterbury and Otago reach final

The Otago Highlanders and Canterbury Crusaders will play off next weekend for the Super 12 rugby crown after impressive semi-final victories on Saturday.

Otago, leaders for much of the three-month tournament, eclipsed the Stormers 33-18 in Cape Town, while earlier in Brisbane, Canterbury disposed of Queensland 2822 to set up the second successive all-New Zealand Super 12 final.

The final will pit New Zealand's provincial champions Otago against the defending Super 12 champions in an all-South Island affair.

Canterbury beat two-time champions Auckland Blues last year.

"It is great to have the win over here, and then to come back home and have two New Zealand teams in the final is just a wonderful thing," said Highlanders coach Tony Gilbert after Otago vanquished the Stormers by four tries to two before a 50,000 capacity crowd at Newlands.

"The Canterbury Crusaders will be the toughest side we'll play all year, it was great to see them get the win," said Gilbert.

"We always enjoy playing Canterbury as they do us and this will be a great South Island derby." Otago dominated large portions of their semi-final and out-muscled the Stormers' forwards, even though the home side took early control.

While the Stormers were guilty of missing critical first tackles, the psychological pressure of a match fee dispute that was only resolved on the morning of the match played some part.

The Cape Town-based players refused to take the field unless they received a 20,000 rand ($3,300) match fee and 5,000 rand ($830) bonus for a win - an impasse that was only resolved when a supermarket chain stepped in and pledged an undisclosed amount of cash.

In Brisbane, Canterbury bounced back into Super 12 title calculations with an impressive four tries to one win over Queensland.

"We felt there would be some space there if we were brave enough to use the ball in our hands and sometimes you have to do something like that in a semifinal," Crusaders coach Wayne Smith said.

English Premiership champions Leicester were left floundering by a star-studded Barbarian side in yesterday's Scottish Amicable Trophy clash at Twickenham. The Barbarians, skippered by South Africa's World Cup-winning captain Francois Pienaar, scored nine tries in a 55-33 victory.