Rookies Louw and Nortje proved they're Bulls' future as Jake hails 'best showing'

As much as their legion of stalwarts played their part, the Bulls' sterling 57-12 thumping of the Scarlets in the United Rugby Championship (URC) on Friday night was illuminated by the young men they need to build their future around.

The dynamic duo of 21-year-old eighthman Elrigh Louw and 22-year-old lock Ruan Nortje were the main protagonists in a performance Jake White, the Bulls' director of rugby, labelled as "probably the best we've played".

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Louw in particular was absolutely relentless, hammering his Welsh opponents in contact while galloping all night as support runner and completing some sublime passes too.

More robust but no less mesmerising was the unfashionable Nortje, an old-school no-frills, second rower with an immense work ethic.

His relish for tackling is the stuff of legend, but in this encounter he revealed a pleasing ability to effect turnovers and was rewarded with a blistering long range intercept from a Scarlets line-out.

"It's unbelievable," said White.

"Week-in and week-out they simply deliver. I keep telling everyone how young these two men are still. They've got a great future ahead of them.

"It's wonderful that we've got such young guys playing good rugby. But it helps having experience around them and I believe we've got the blend right."

Louw was also the epitome of the Bulls' ability to vary their attack between their forwards and backs.

"I wanted to see some interplay between those groups and I don't think you could get better than what we did in this game," said White.

"We had props off-loading to each other and an opensider throwing a 40m pass to the wing. Then you know things are coming together and even