The Stormers have moved to the top of the Super Rugby table with a 29-13 victory over fellow South Africans the Sharks in Cape Town.

There was nothing between the teams after a frenetic opening half at Newlands stadium on Saturday which finished 13-10 in favour of the Stormers.

But the Sharks rarely got out of their half after the break, managed to add just three points and were sunk by a penalty try.

Victory took the Stormers from third to first in the southern hemisphere inter-provincial championship standings.

The Cape Town outfit have 16 points after four rounds, Australia’s Brumbies 15 and New Zealand’s Hurricanes 14.

A third loss in four outings for the Durban-based Sharks saw them drop one position to 10th overall.

Powerful scrummaging was a key factor in the Stormers’ success with loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff winning the official man-of-the-match award.

He gave Sharks and former England tighthead Matt Stevens a torrid time to the delight of most in a 40,000 crowd.

“Our tight five were magnificent,” said Stormers skipper and loose forward and 2014 South African Rugby Player of the Year Duane Vermuelen.

“To see those guys training this week in 42 degrees (Celsius) heat was awe inspiring.

“We also showed improvement at the breakdowns, but our line-out work needs to get better.”

Sharks fly-half Patrick Lambie struck an early penalty for the visitors before a stroke of luck turned the tide in favour of the hosts.

Sharks wing Lwazi Mvovo appeared to have a long kick from fly-half Demetri Catrakilis covered, only to be caught out when the ball bounced away from him.

Stormers winger Johnny Kotze raced forward to grab the ball and dive over between the posts for his first Super Rugby try that Catrakilis converted.

Sharks regained the momentum when home scrum-half Nic Groom was sin-binned and Lambie dotted down for a try he converted.

A couple of Catrakilis penalties nudged Stormers to a three-point half-time advantage and that stretched to nine points when he slotted two more penalties.

A Lambie penalty after a rare attack cut the gap to six points, but one minute later the match ended as a contest.

South African referee Jaco Peyper awarded a penalty try to Stormers after ruling that off-side Sharks scrum-half Cobus Reinach prevented a probable try by winger Dillyn Leyds.

Replacement fly-half Kurt Coleman kicked the conversion and added a penalty to complete the scoring.

Sharks centre Francois Steyn was sin-binned for a late tackle with seven minutes left.