The Crusaders head off to South Africa on Sunday to play the Stormers in the Super Rugby semi-finals after overcoming the Sharks in their qualifier at Trafalgar Park on Saturday night.
After leading 13-5 at half-time, the Crusaders lifted their performance in the second half against a tiring team to win 36-8, but it was not a vintage showing by the seven-times Super champions who were disjointed and uncoordinated in the first half especially.
A lovely intercept try to Crusaders No.8 Kieran Read took his team to a 21-8 lead after 50 minutes and the home team was never seriously challenged after that with the Sharks conceding a swag of penalties as New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence continued to find faults in their game.
It took less than a minute for the Crusaders to open their account with the Sharks penalised from the kick-off and Dan Carter kicking an easy penalty goal. The Sharks compounded their bad start problems by losing the ball forward three times in the first six minutes.
An off-side offence by lock Gerhard Mostert after eight minutes gave Carter a second penalty chance, but he dragged his kick wide from 40m.
Minutes later the Sharks scored the first try after the Crusaders defence at a lineout was exposed as halfback Charl McLeod raced into space and found Keegan Daniel in support. The break ended near the line, but No.8 Willem Alberts picked up the ball and powered across.
Another off-side offence by the Sharks just outside their 22m did not prove costly as Carter missed the penalty from 30m.
But after 32 minutes the Crusaders crossed for their first try, wing Sean Maitland spinning out of three tackles and off-loading for Sonny Bill Williams to finish off.
Carter added the conversion and kicked his second penalty goal three minutes later when Williams milked a penalty off JP Pietersen.
Close to half-time Patrick Lambie had the distance but not the accuracy with a 51m penalty attempt, leaving the Crusaders with an eight-point lead at the break.
Two minutes into the second half, Lambie was on target from 36m with a penalty goal to claw back three points. Carter negated that with an easy penalty goal minutes later after fullback Tom Marshall made a probing run on the counter-attack.
After 50 minutes, Crusaders No.8 Kieran Read expertly made an intercept 30m out and loped over for a try which Carter converted to take his team to a 23-8 lead. The Crusaders stormed back from the restart and Carter kicked his fourth penalty in the 56th minute when the Sharks were ruled off-side again.
In the 62nd minute Crusaders halfback Andy Ellis was driven over the Sharks line by Matt Todd, but the try was disallowed after the TMO found the grounding was inconclusive. The Sharks kept trying to move the ball but the mistakes kept mounting against stout Crusaders defence.
Carter kicked his fifth penalty goal after 74 minutes to extend the lead to 21 points and a sweet chip kick by replacement first five-eighths Matt Berquist found nobody at home and prop Ben Franks powered across after the forwards made a series of charges to the line.
Crusaders 36:
Tries: Williams, Read, B Franks.
Con: Carter 2, Berquist
Pen: Carter 5
Sharks 8:
Try: Alberts
Pen: Lambie