Richie McCaw and Dan Carter victorious in final Crusaders game

Richie McCaw and Dan Carter enjoyed a final victory as members of the Crusaders as they beat the Brumbies in Canberra to scupper their opponents' hopes of winning the Australian conference.

Seven-time champions Canterbury will be missing from next week's finals for the first time since 2001 but they were too organised and strong for the Brumbies, winning 37-24.

Carter, the top points-scorer in international rugby, is moving to French club Racing Metro after the World Cup later this year, while All Blacks captain McCaw has indicated he intends to retire after the tournament.

It was a painful home defeat for the Brumbies, who will have to play the Stormers in South Africa next weekend in the play-offs after the Waratahs beat the Reds 31-5 to ensure themselves of a week off.

Giant Fijian winger Nemani Nadolo terrorised the Brumbies' defence with his crashing runs and scored two tries, his second just before half-time coming after he left three defenders strewn on the ground and won the chase to his kick to score in the corner.

The Crusaders led 21-10 at half-time and the Brumbies' task become even harder when Wallaby flanker David Pocock failed to return for the second half with concussion.

"It was good to finish on a win, it was a big motivating factor going into this week," Carter said. "It's been a pretty inconsistent, frustrating year but to finish on a high here in Canberra is pretty satisfying."

McCaw said he finished the Super Rugby season with a smile after beating the Crusaders' great Australian rivals, adding: "To finish off tonight with a performance like that against the old rivals the Brumbies brings a big smile and some great memories and more than likely this will be the last one for me as well."

The reigning champion Waratahs struggled for nearly an hour against the Reds in Sydney, but second-half tries from captain Dave Dennis, flanker Jaques Potgieter, scrumhalf Brendan McKibbin and lock Dean Mumm made sure of victory and a bonus point they knew before the game they would not even need.

Dennis crashed over to open the floodgates soon after Reds flanker Adam Thomson had been sin-binned and Potgieter, McKibbin and Mumm followed their skipper across the line in the next 20 minutes.

Reds fly-half Quade Cooper scored a late consolation try in what might be his final match for the Reds but two other stalwarts of their 2011 Super Rugby triumph, Will Genia and James Horwill, were sent off to new clubs in Europe with a 12th loss of the season.

Table-topping Hurricanes finished off their regular season with a 21-13 win over the Chiefs, who were denied the chance of a home play-off game next weekend.

The Chiefs entered the final round locked in a battle with the Highlanders for fourth place, but had to be content with fifth after the southerners opened the weekend with a 44-7 rout of the Blues.

They instead have to travel to Dunedin to play the Highlanders in a play-off game next weekend, while the Hurricanes have a week off before a semi-final against the highest-ranked winner of the two play-off matches.

To overtake the Highlanders and secure a home play-off, the Chiefs needed to score at least four tries and beat the Hurricanes by 37 points or more.

Super Rugby Try Time

They started as if they believed the could succeed with a 70-metre runaway try by Bryce Heem in the 15th minute, converted by Marty McKenzie, giving them an early 7-0 lead.

McKenzie added two penalties to make it 13-0 but that would prove to be their last score as the Hurricanes found their rhythm and again became the ruthless that has only lost two games this season.

They scored twice in quick succession after half-time to turn a 0-13 deficit into a 14-13 lead, the first score a penalty try when Chiefs fullback Tom Marshall was yellow-carded for a shoulder charge on Julian Savea diving for the line.

Marshall's brother James, the Hurricanes' fly-half, slotted the conversion and set up the second try when he broke through the Chiefs' defensive wall to put Conrad Smith over.

The Chiefs had a chance to regain the lead with a penalty on half-time but turned down a shot at goal in favour of a lineout drive, only to be held out by a determined Hurricanes defence.

James Marshall increased the lead to 21-13 when he intercepted a pass from McKenzie then ran 30 metres to the line. He converted his own try to complete the scoring.

The Cheetahs belied their lowly position in the Super Rugby standings to sign off their season with a 42-29 victory over the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

A six-try haul for the visitors, four of them in a rampant first half performance, helped the Cheetahs to only their fifth win of the season, but it was not enough to lift them off bottom place in the South African conference.

The Bulls, looking for a victorious end to their own disappointing campaign, got off to a quick start as full-back Jesse Kriel scored in the fifth minute but by halftime the Cheetahs were 28-10 ahead after tries from Niell Jordaan, Henco Venter, Clayton Blommetjies and departing scrum half Sarel Pretorius, who is joining Welsh club Newport Dragons.

Veteran lock Steven Sykes extended the lead after the break before the Cheetahs, who had lost their four previous matches, began to tire and the Bulls scored tries through Springboks Francois Hougaard (two) and Pierre Spies.

But Rayno Benjamin's try six minutes from the end for the Cheetahs stifled any hopes of a dramatic home comeback.

The Sharks scored five unanswered tries to beat a second string Stormers outfit 34-12 in the last match of the regular Super Rugby season at Kings' Park Rugby Stadium on Saturday.

Fly-half Lionel Cronje went over for the opening try and added seven more points with the boot as the Sharks said goodbye to several long-serving players heading to clubs in Europe.

Springbok hooker Bismarck du Plessis, bound for France, scored a farewell try in his last appearance.

There were also tries for Stefan Ungerer, Lwazi Mvovo and Odwa Ndungane while Kurt Coleman kicked four penalties for the Stormers, who are already through to next week's playoffs and rested 14 of their first choice players ahead of the match in Cape Town next Saturday against the Brumbies.