The hosts had to shrug off three first-half yellow cards and a strong Sharks outfit before eventually coming out on top at the end of a see saw semi-final between two incredibly physical teams.
With nearly 50,000 fans packed into Loftus Versfeld, it was a throwback to an old school match between the two old rivals, with the Bulls having the better of the scrums while the Sharks' relatively inexperienced second row made a nuisance of themselves at lineout time.
In the end it was the Bulls who emerged as the better team on the day, taking their opportunities superbly to set up a trip to Dublin to take on Ireland's juggernaut after Leinster dispatched Glasgow 37-19 in the other semi-final earlier in the day.
The victory did not come without cost, though, as sparkling eighth man Cameron Hanekom was forced off the field on a stretcher after picking up an injury to his left leg when cleared out of a ruck. The extent of the injury is not known but it appears unlikely Hanekom will feature in the final in seven days' time.
Bulls make fast start
The Bulls started the game the better of the two, and were quickly 7-0 up after Sebastian de Klerk made the most of poor tackling out wide from the visitors to dot down relatively untouched.
Things then went from bad to worse for the Sharks when Jaden Hendrikse slipped while trying to make a clearance from the base of a ruck in front of his own line - the ball fell into Bulls' hands and De Klerk immediately put in a brilliantly weighted kick for Canan Moodie to go over in the corner.
Jordan Hendrikse pulled three back for his team when his brother Jaden was impeded at a ruck, after which the Sharks broke from the restart to make their way into the Bulls' half. In an attempt to end the threat, Harold Vorster was penalised and sent to the bin for cynically playing the ball on the ground.
The Bulls scrum then continued their dominance to win a penalty which pushed their side's lead to 15-3, but shortly thereafter Cameron Hanekom picked up Siya Kolisi over the horizontal in a tackle to become the second Bulls man to be sent to the bin.
When the Sharks set up a driving maul near the Bulls' line and it was collapsed, Marcell Coetzee was the third players to be told to sit out ten minutes. The Sharks kicked to the corner in an attempt to get a five-pointer against the defence of 13 men, but Ox Nche was held up over the line to bring down the curtain on a frantic first half.
The Sharks were quickest out the blocks after the break, with Makazole Mapimpi going over for a try which sparked the fightback. Next came a score from Ethan Hooker, who stepped inside the Bulls defence after a long period of attack to make it 15-13 after both conversions were missed from the tee.
However, that would be as close as the Sharks would come to the lead, as first a penalty made it 18-13 before a brilliant break from Cobus Wiese released David Kriel for the score that would put the result to bed and send a packed Loftus Versfeld into delirium.
The Bulls are now left to make travel arrangements for their trip to Ireland, while the Sharks will head back to Durban where they will reflect on a semi-final in which they were unable to take their opportunities against their better-drilled hosts.