The 33-year-old, voted world player of the year in 2004, is joining the Premiership side after his Stormers career ended in a disappointing thrashing by the Chiefs in the Super Rugby quarter-finals on Saturday.
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The odd ones out are South Africa’s Lions, who dumped out seven-time winners the Crusaders to prevent a New Zealand clean sweep of the semis.
Last year’s grand finalists will host the Chiefs in their final four clash, with a win guaranteeing them hosting rights for the decider a week later.
The Hurricanes defeated the Sharks 41-0 in Wellington, while the Chiefs hammered the Stormers 60-21 in Cape Town.
The Hurricanes became the first team in Super Rugby history to hold an opponent scoreless in a playoffs match.
It was a record Sharks captain Tendai Mtawarira did not want to be part of, describing the South Africans performance as an “embarrassing effort” against the top-ranked New Zealanders. The Hurricanes led 13-0 after playing the first half into the teeth of a storm which had wind gusts of up to 140 kph (86 mph) and driving rain.
Undeterred by the weather conditions, the Hurricanes played the adventurous style of rugby they have pursued all season to qualify for the playoffs in first place.
Chiefs fell behind to an early Vincent Koch try, but that was as good as it got for Stormers, as the visitors ran in four scores before the break.
The Lions made the clearest possible statement that they can’t any longer be considered the whipping boys of the tournament as they beat the Christchurch-based Crusaders, Super Rugby’s most-successful team, to continue their bid for a first title.
They look likely to be without skipper Dane Coles next week, however, after the All Blacks hooker was forced to leave the pitch with what appeared to be a rib injury soon after halftime.
Veteran Stormers loose forward Schalk Burger, in his last game for the team, said: “It was sort of a horror movie for us out there”.
In chilly Canberra, the Highlanders survived a tense finish to eliminate the Brumbies.
The Hamilton-based Chiefs and the Wellington-based Hurricanes were also two of three New Zealand teams to make the last four as they joined defending champion Highlanders in the semifinals.
Otago scored two tries to nil with fly-half Lima Sopoaga landing a conversion and a penalty to steer his team into next week’s semi-finals.
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The format of the Super Rugby competition was changed this year with the inclusion of new franchises from Argentina, Japan and South Africa.
