Stormers 10 - 29 Crusaders: Crusaders enjoy away day to savour

The Crusaders will face the Reds in Brisbane for Super Rugby glory next week after they beat the Stormers 29-10 at Newlands.

It was the first time that a Super Rugby semi had been won by a visiting team since 1999 when the Christchurch-based Crusaders and Highlanders managed the feat.

And it seems fitting that Todd Blackadder's men would be the ones to break that ten-year hoodoo as they put in a display worthy of champions. The Stormers went into the clash without key ball carrier Duane Vermeulen and things did not get much better half-an-hour before kick-off when scrum-half Dewaldt Duvenage was ruled out.

However, that didn't stop them from coming out of the blocks all guns blazing and won an early penalty, rattling the Crusaders who slipped into a kick-and-chase style. It worked emphatically as the visitors soon followed up a Dan Carter penalty shot with an intercept, Sean Maitland going in untouched before the visitors extended their lead via two more Carter penalties.

Yet it got worse for the out-of-sorts Stormers, who were the latest victim of Sonny Bill Williams' ability to free his arms in the tackle, this time setting up Robbie Freuan for a run-in, Carter converting. At 23-3, the game looked to be getting beyond the home side - until Bryan Habana put on something of a cameo by taking a quick penalty and diving over.

The unthinkable happened at the break as Stormers captain Schalk Burger didn't return to the field, his place taken by on-loan Saracen Schalk Brits. But not even the 2011 Aviva Premiership Player of the Year nominee could stir something in the Stormers' camp as they succumbed to two more Carter penalties to set up what will be a fascinating showdown at Suncorp Stadium.