'Eskom' is back! Jake White elated as Bulls lure back their beloved Van Staden

The Bulls can once again rely on the "Eskom" the rest of South Africa is yearning for after the they confirmed on Tuesday that Marco van Staden is back at Loftus.

The move had been widely expected after the Springbok flanker, affectionately named after the embattled utility because he "blacks out" opponents with his massive hits, was released by English club Leicester earlier this year on the back of sustaining multiple concussions.

Yet there are no lingering doubts over whether those knocks represent an undue risk to the Bulls.

In fact, director of rugby Jake White revealed that Van Staden has been symptom-free for the eight months he's been on the sidelines.

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"He hasn't played rugby for 8 months and has experienced no side effects," the former Springbok mentor said.

"He hasn't even remotely complained of getting a headache during his own training during that period. We've seen the news of Virimi Vakatawa, [the French centre banned from playing in France due to an unknown medical condition], sometimes it happens.

"From Marco's perspective, he had a certain amount of time to get through before the new [medical] insurance kicks in. We've done this before with a guy like Cornal Hendricks and he's been massive for us.

"The risk is no different to anyone else. He could bump his head against a teammate in Friday’s warm-up, or whack it at a morning training session on someone’s hip.

"It is what it is. All we know is he's raring to play again."

Indeed, Van Staden's return is close to poetic for White, who last year lamented not being able to use Van Staden and regular skipper Marcell Coetzee in the same loose trio, particularly given that Coetzee's return coincided