Steyn, a veteran of 25 Tests, missed just one of his eight attempts at goal and succeeded with five penalties, two conversions and a drop goal.
The win kept the Bulls' slim play-off hopes alive as they moved to 40 points, eight behind the Stormers in the South African conference and four behind the second-placed Sharks.
The visitors dominated the first quarter, roaring into a 20-6 lead, while the home side's cause was not helped by their poor lineout performances early in the match.
Left wing Francois Hougaard scored the opening try of the contest courtesy of a stolen Sharks' lineout in the host's 22-metre area.
Steyn and his opposite number Patrick Lambie traded penalties before the visitors stretched their lead when a line break from inside centre Wynand Olivier resulted in lock Bakkies Botha diving over from close range for a converted try.
Steyn and Lambie again traded penalties before Steyn completed the first half scoring with a snap drop goal from 25 metres out.
The fly half was responsible for the first points of the second half when he succeeded with a 40-metre penalty attempt before the Sharks launched a comeback which narrowed the deficit to 10 points.
The hosts finally breached their opponent's defence when hooker Bismarck du Plessis barrelled over after a quick tap penalty from scrum half Charl McLeod five metres from the Bulls' tryline before a Lambie penalty left the score at 26-16 after 60 minutes.
Before a crowd of 35,143, Steyn ended any hopes the Sharks had of pulling off an unlikely victory with two more penalties to kill the match off as a contest despite a consolation try for the home side when centre Adrian Jacobs slid over in the corner in the 75th minute.
- Reuters
Tags: sport, rugby-union, super-14, south-africa
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