Out-of-contention Coastal Sharks created a thrilling chase for Super 14 semi-finals place by shocking fellow South Africans Western Stormers 20-14 at windy Absa Stadium Saturday.

The result confirmed defending champions Northern Bulls will top the table, securing the Pretora franchise a home semi-final and, if successful, final in the southern hemisphere championship.

But who fills the other three places in the knockout phase is going down to the wire with Stormers, New South Wales Waratahs, ACT Brumbies, Wellington Hurricanes, Canterbury Crusaders and Queensland Reds in contention.

Chasing a third title in four seasons, Bulls are way ahead on the table with 47 points followed by Stormers (39), Waratahs (38), Brumbies and Hurricanes (37 each), seven-time champions Crusaders (36) and virtual no-hopers Reds (34).

Adding to the final-round drama next Friday and Saturday will be three games involving top-six head-to-heads with Stormers hosting Bulls, Crusaders home to Brumbies and Hurricanes away to Waratahs. Reds host lowly Otago Highlanders.

It could even come down to points difference and here the Stormers have a distinct edge despite their fourth loss this year with plus-166, while the other five contenders boast two-digit advantages.

South African derbies are notoriously unpredictable and so it proved again as Sharks bounced back from an eight-point defeat at Bulls last weekend to conquer rivals fresh from a 42-14 caning of Crusaders in Cape Town.

"The fact that we were out of contention was a risk, but seeing the traffic jams outside the stadium with so many people wanting to support us proved inspirational," admitted Sharks and Springboks skipper and hooker John Smit.

Fellow Bok and Stormers skipper and flanker Schalk Burger was his usual frank self, admitting the side gave a "pretty poor performance" as they tried to end a run of four consecutive losses to the Sharks.

"Nothing went right with a lot of errors, especially in the first half when we battled to get out of our own half. We were flat and the Sharks performance was no surprise because I knew they would not lie down."

A key factor as Sharks won for the sixth time in seven games after losing the first five was the impressive displays from a new halfback combination of Ruan Pienaar (fly) and Rory Kockott (scrum) with Englishman Andy Goode axed.

Pienaar supplied 15 points via a try, two conversions and two penalties with right wing Odwa Ndungane opening the scoring seven minutes into the first half by dotting down in the corner.

Fijian right wing Sireli Naqelevuki gifted wrapped the second try for Sharks a minute before half-time by failing to touch down a Pienaar kick ahead in the dead-ball area and the pivot dashed in to punish him.

And Kockott was voted man of the match for a typical in-your-face showing, joining his team-mates in harassing the lacklustre Stormers from start to finish in the Indian Ocean city.

Fly-half Peter Grant converted his own early second-half try and another from loose forward Francois Louw on the stroke of full-time that secured a potentially precious bonus point.

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