‘Sponge’ Louw leans on his captain
Bulls captain Duane Vermeulen has spoken previously of fellow loose forward Elrigh Louw being a “sponge” whose ear is constantly turned towards the wisdom of his skipper, and yesterday the young flank revealed how playing under the Springbok great has been an incredible experience in his first season of senior provincial rugby.
The 21-year-old Louw has been one of the finds of the season as the Bulls won Super Rugby Unlocked and topped the log after the round-robin stage of the Currie Cup.
And now comes the knockout stage and the Bulls, and especially Louw, will be leaning heavily on the experience, class and composure of eighthman Vermeulen when they take on the Lions in their semifinal at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
“Duane is amazing, very calm and he has the type of aura you can draw energy from. When he speaks, everyone listens, and it’s awesome to play under him as captain, there’s no better guy to learn from. Growing up, there wasn’t really one guy I based my play on, but Duane was one of my role-models along with Richie McCaw and Schalk Burger.
“I just wanted to be good defensively and a good strong runner, and good on the ground too. I love contact, physical rugby is my favourite, but I also like a nice open game. I’ll play wherever my team needs me – flank, eighthman, lock, it doesn’t really matter, my play stays the same,” said Louw.
“But on Saturday, if we don’t get quick, clean ball, our whole game-plan falls flat so the focus will be on the breakdown,”
The Pretoria-born Louw said that the excitement levels are really rising within the Bulls team, as they near a potential Currie Cup final.
“We are all together as a team and playing for the guy next to you because you don’t want to let him down, you want to make your team-mates proud.
“To be 21-years-old and playing in a Currie Cup semifinal, I don’t think a lot of guys have accomplished that, and to make the final would be a dream come true. For a lot of us youngsters it’s our first semifinal and I am very motivated and ready to go.”