Michalak was selected at fly half ahead of in-form Patrick Lambie, who moved to full-back as the Sharks rung the changes after showing mediocre form in recent weeks.
Michalak's quick passing and unpredictability and Lambie's incursions from the back kept Bulls under pressure and the home team were never in front in what was effectively a knock-out game for the sixth and final play-off place.
For Bulls it could be the end of an era.
Captain Victor Matfield thanked supporters in the 50,000 crowd for what he said had been a "fantastic 10 years" as he and fellow stars Bakkies Botha and Fourie du Preez may have played their last games for the Pretoria franchise.
The loss ended a six-match winning streak by Bulls, who have won three of the last four Super Rugby titles
Not even a laser-wielding Bulls fan could stop the Sharks.
Lambie said he had noticed a laser being shone into his eyes as he lined up place kicks but said the distraction was not to blame for him missing three out of six kicks, which resulted in Michalak taking over the kicking in the final quarter.
Both teams scored two tries, and the Bulls struck back twice within three minutes of the Sharks crossing their line.
Sharks went into a 16-6 lead three minutes before half-time when JP Pietersen came in from the blindside wing and made a searing break which led to a try by Sharks captain Stefan Terblanche.
But the Bulls pulled it back to 16-13 when right wing Gerhard van den Heever went over in the corner after the half-time hooter and fly half Morne Steyn converted.
Bulls threatened to take a familiar ascendancy early in the second half but the Sharks tackled ferociously and made probing attacks when in possession.
They seemed to have wrapped up the points when Lambie came into the line from full-back and the ball was fed to left wing Lwazi Mvovo, who dived over in the corner.
Michalak landed the conversion to put the Sharks 26-16 ahead with six minutes left.
Once again the Bulls came straight back. Francois Hougaard, who had started at scrum half but moved to wing when Du Preez came on, scored and Steyn's conversion reduced the margin to three points.
It set up a tense finish to a bruising match because the Bulls would have reached the play-offs had the match been drawn, so they only needed a penalty or a drop goal to squeeze past their rivals.
But the Sharks held on to earn an away match against the Canterbury Crusaders.
- AFP
Tags: sport, rugby-union, super-14, south-africa
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