Elrigh Louw brings light to another dark day for belittled Bulls

Springbok Elrigh Louw was the light for the Bulls on what was another dark day in the 2025/26 season, writes Mark Keohane.

The Bulls were belittled, more than beaten, by the Northampton Saints on Sunday in the Investec Champions Cup, and what made the afternoon that much more embarrassing for the South Africans is that the Saints were not at their best for the first 50 minutes.

Louw, who played more minutes against the Saints than he has since coming back for a serious injury and nearly a year out of the sport, is growing in confidence and strength. The Springboks No 8 is a class act and he was the one player who looked like an international in a Bulls match 23 that played with little intensity and even less regard for the preciousness of holding onto the ball.

Louw, who started at No 8, played for 58 minutes in his third comeback match. He made the most carry metres, 41, the second most tackles (13), which was one less than Marcell Coetzee and he won the most turnovers for the Bulls (2).

Unfortunately, on this particular afternoon Kade Wolhuter produced probably his worst match of a young professional career. Wolhuter, 24, was a schoolboy star for Paul Roos, Western Province and South Africa’s Youth Teams, but he has battled to transition to professional rugby, having moved from Western Province and the Stormers to the Lions and now the Bulls.

He missed his only two kicks at posts and, as a team and coach killer, he missed three penalty kicks to the touchline. All of these misses were punished by the Saints on the counter-attack. His skill set deserted him with each passing minute and his chip kicks were poor, his passes were ineffective or intercepted and the worse it got, the further back in the pocket he stood.

Springboks two-times World Cup winner and flyhalf Handre Pollard’s presence would have made a difference to the performance but it would not have changed the result.

The Bulls have problems, are devoid of confidence, seem confused as to how to play and most certainly are not showing the desire to prove to new coach Johann Ackerman that the squad should remain the same next season.

Their Investec Champions Cup campaign is over before 2026 has started, having lost both matches in December and conceded 96 points in the process. Their URC campaign is not looking healthy, with three wins in six starts.

The Saints, winners at Pau, are well positioned going into the new year, and they will back themselves to host a home last 16 play-off match.

The Investec Champions Cup, in the play-offs is a representation of the toughest club competition in the world, but the league stages need a revisit, as does the schedule, because too many teams are sending lambs to the slaughter in away games, and then backing big home wins to make the play-offs.

There are six clubs, at best, with proper depth to compete in their domestic competition in parallel to the Investec Champions Cup, and even a club like Saracens found out that to win in South Africa, like in France, you have to send your best squad. They will be hurt by the defeat to the Sharks in Durban.

The Bulls, somehow, trailed 7-5 after 35 minutes and had so many opportunities to be ahead and to put doubt into the home team players and supporters, but the ill-discipline and lack of defensive structure, intensity or mongrel, resulted in a 50-5 defeat.

It got messy in the end and it is going to continue to get messy for the Bulls if they fail to address the fact that they have a serious defensive problem.

READ ALL THE LATEST FROM THE INVESTEC CHAMPIONS CUP

SA RUGBY MAG ON THE STORMERS, SHARKS AND BULLS CAMPAIGNS

KEO: HOW SACHA SIZZLED FOR THE STORMERS