- Elrigh Louw immediately contacted his Bulls coach Jake White to plead for game time after learning earlier this week the Springboks were releasing him.
- The wily White was only happy to oblige, hailing the youngster's willingness to make an immediate return for his franchise.
- He did admit surprise to having to lose Sbu Nkosi for the week, but understands the national cause comes first.
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 Papier, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Stedman Gans
Edinburgh
15 Henry Immelman, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 James Lang, 11 Damien Hoyland, 10 Blair Kinghorn, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Luke Crosbie, 6 Jamie Ritchie (co-captain), 5 Grant Gilchrist (co-captain), 4 Sam Skinner, 3 WP Nel, 2 Dave Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Substitutes: 16 Stuat McInally, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Luan de Bruin, 19 Marshall Sykes, 20 Hamish Watson, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Chris Dean
Arendse was subsequently included on the bench for the clash at Kings Park, but there was probably an argument to be made that Nkosi could've benefitted from another 80 minutes as he continues his recovery from a long-term injury.
"I was surprised because the Boks did really well last week and I didn't think they'd move away from that group, which they obviously did. I don't want to speak on their behalf, but I did hear that there were a few niggles they waited to get clarity on at the final minute," said White.
"That obviously influenced our selection, but to be fair, I've been on the other side too. I know what it's like. The Boks need to come first. If a 50-50 guy pulls up on Saturday morning, then it's useful to have Sbu in your group.
"Next week we'll have Sbu, Kurt-Lee and Canan (Moodie) hopefully back. That's great depth."
Kick-off is at 14:30 on Saturday.