The Canterbury Crusaders landed a penalty for the only points of a dismal second half to clinch an 11-7 Super 14 win over South Africa's Stormers on Saturday.

Each side scored a first-half try but the Crusaders took an 8-7 lead to halftime in a match against a team with best defensive record in this year's tournament.

There was no addition to the score through 37 minutes of the second half before a penalty to flyhalf Stephen Brett gave the Crusaders their eventual winning margin.

"The Stormers were coming off a bye so they've had a long time to work up for this one," Crusaders captain Kieran Read said.

"They came out really firing tonight. We had to combat that and really hold on. It was a scrappy win but we'll take it."

The match was riddled with handling errors and tactical misjudgments but delivered a win which kept alive Canterbury's hopes of defending their Super 14 title.

The Stormers were bidding to become the third South African team after the Sharks and Bulls to win in New Zealand this season but errors left them battling deficits of possession and territory.

"We made too many mistakes," said captain Jean de Villiers, who was playing his 50th Super rugby match.

"The ball was quite slippery and we couldn't seem to get out of our own half.

"We pride ourselves on our defence but you can't play in your own half for 80 minutes and expect to win."

The Stormers grabbed a 7-0 lead after nine minutes with a brilliant individual try to No. 8 Luke Watson.

Watson stepped through four ineffectual tackles in a superb 30-meter run to the goal line, for a try converted by Willem de Waal.

A penalty to Brett after 24 minutes and a 32-minute try to right winger Adam Whitelock gave the Crusaders the one-point lead they took to halftime.

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