The Sharks will have to fight jetlag for a third straight week when they arrive in Hamilton ahead of the final after having played their quarterfinal match in Brisbane last weekend before flying back to South Africa for today's semifinal. They also became the second side in Super rugby history to win back-to-back playoff games away from home.
The last team to do so were the 1999 Crusaders who captured the Super 12 title after beating the Reds in Brisbane followed by victory over the Highlanders in the final at Carisbrook.
The Chiefs advanced to their second ever Super Rugby final with a 20-17 win over the Crusaders on Friday night.
The Stormers had won 14 of their 16 regular-season matches with a defensive game plan that relied on making fewer errors than their opposition, and were ultimately left to reflect on a rusty performance in which they made too many mistakes.
A furious start to the match saw both sides reverting to type, with the Sharks' running game dictated by the in-form Pietersen while the Stormers looked to hold firm and kick for territory.
After Peter Grant had opened the scoring in the seventh minute with a straightforward penalty for the Stormers, the Sharks began to dominate both possession and territory.
An infringement in the scrum allowed Michalak to level the scores, and by the midway point in the first half the visitors were in front thanks to the Frenchman's drop goal.
The Stormers nearly hit back with a promising move down the left wing that ultimately saw captain Jean de Villiers held up on the line, but instead it was the Sharks who scored the first try of the game.
Ludik won a high ball on the home side's 22-yard line, before stepping inside two defenders to cruise over the tryline.
Grant's penalty on the stroke of halftime narrowed the deficit to 13-6, but some Sharks pressure early in the second half allowed the Durban side to restore their 10-point advantage.
Although Grant hit back with his third penalty of the evening in the 57th minute, Pietersen's sublime sidestep two minutes later saw him ghost past Stormers lock Eben Etzebeth and put the Cape Town team in real strife.
The Stormers fought to the last, with Aplon's try and another Grant penalty putting them within four points of the Sharks, but another Michalak drop and some solid defense saw the Sharks reach their fourth Super rugby final.
"It's an awesome feeling, but we haven't won anything yet,'' Pietersen said. "We've still got one more flight to New Zealand and one more game to play, so we have to keep our feet on the ground.''
Having finished top of the table in the regular season, defeat in the semifinal for the second season running was a bitter pill for the Stormers to swallow.
"It's going to take a while to get over this one, because we can only blame ourselves,'' said de Villiers.
- HERALD ONLINE/AP
