Flyhalf Daniel Carter kicked 12 points as the Canterbury Crusaders beat the Otago Highlanders 32-17 in Super 14 rugby on Saturday.

Andy Ellis, Jared Payne, Zac Guilford and Sean Maitland scored tries for Canterbury, who took a bonus point from a four-tries-to-two win. Carter converted three tries and kicked two penalties.

Otago trailed 15-0 in the second half before closing to 18-17 with two tries by replacement flyhalf Michael Hobbs. But Canterbury pulled away with late tries from Guilford and Maitland.

Crusaders halfback Andy Ellis was awarded a contentious try when he appeared to ground the ball short of the goalline and Carter's conversion gave Canterbury a 10-0 lead at the break.

Payne's try pushed the score to 15-0 just three minutes into the second half and it seemed the Crusaders would run away with the match.

However Otago fought back immediately, with Hobbs converting his own try in the 46th minute to make it 15-7.

A Carter penalty after 62 minutes put Canterbury up 18-7 but a brilliant try by Hobbs in the 58th minute made it 18-14 and Hobbs' penalty after 66 minutes sliced the lead to a single point.

Otago placed Canterbury under stern pressure in the last 10 minutes, but tries by Guilford in the 72nd, then by Maitland in the 77th lifted the seven-time champions to victory.

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