Elrigh calls Jake 2 minutes after Bok release to plead for Bulls game time: 'It's refreshing'

It took Elrigh Louw less than two minutes after hearing he won't be required for the Springboks against Argentina in Durban this weekend to plead for game time with the Bulls.

And Jake White was only too happy to oblige, summarily including him for the URC meeting with Edinburgh at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

"He actually got hold of me literally two minutes after he got told that he can come home and told me that he needs to play," said the Bulls' director of rugby.

"I've experienced a lot of the flip side, the guys being on tour and away from home a long time, telling me they need time off. So this is rather new and refreshing to me.

"I suppose he's young and he's looking forward to playing. To have him back after he had a pretty great hit out against Argentina last weekend is a real bonus.

"It's really encouraging when a player texts you almost immediately after meeting with the national coach. It's nice knowing he wants to play for us. I'm quite looking forward to seeing him operate in this loose trio, it gives us a lot of options."

While Louw was surprisingly released at the start of the week after making a discernible impact for the Boks in Buenos Aires as a replacement, White admitted that a bigger surprise for him was two of his star backs, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Sbu Nkosi, both being called in to the national camp.

Bulls

15 Johan Goosen, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 David Kriel, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Ruan Vermaak, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp

Substitutes: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Embrose