The Springboks have called up Bulls bruiser Elrigh Louw to their squad for the Nations Championship - a day after they announced that Riley Norton - the SA under-20 captain - was out with a hamstring muscle injury.
Louw, who narrowly missed out on selection, has played 13 tests for the Springboks and is nicknamed the “Sheriff” because of his physicality.
“Springbok loose forward Elrigh Louw has been called up to the national squad for the Nations Championship as additional forward cover and will join his teammates in Johannesburg on Tuesday,” a team release stated.
“Louw played the last of his 13 test matches against Wales in November 2024, and spent most of the 2025 season on the sidelines after suffering a serious knee injury last season.
“He returned to the field this year and made a strong impact in the Vodacom Bulls pack, which earned him a call-up to the Springbok alignment camps, and he will make a welcome return to the wider squad as they begin their inaugural Nations Championship campaign against England at Ellis Park on Saturday.”
Norton was set to make his Springbok debut in the opening three weeks of the Nations Championship, but pulled his hamstring during training with the national side.
“Riley’s injury is a real setback, man. He really fit in well,” Erasmus said on Monday when he announced his team to take on England at Ellis Park on Saturday.
“The plan was to play him in this game and then send him back to the Junior Boks for their playoffs. Unfortunately, it was in the second-to-last move of the training session,” Erasmus explained.
“He just pulled his hamstring while chasing. It wasn’t a weird incident. He just pulled it.”
“It’s a bad hamstring. I think eight to ten weeks.”
The Springboks already have several players on the injured list at lock, including RG Snyman and Jean Kleyn, while Franco Mostert remains sidelined with an ankle injury and Lood de Jager is unavailable with illness. The Boks decided to go into the England game without a specialist lock on the bench.
“Franco Mostert is hopefully back in the next two or three weeks, Lood maybe next week, but Riley unfortunately pulled his Grade 3 hamstring, so the locks are certainly getting injured in our environment.”
Erasmus also said he thought that the intensity of the training had taken its toll on the under-20 players training with the senior Boks.
“I think the junior guys coming in, maybe the intensity at the beginning of training is tough because they really pushed the older guys hard over the last three weeks.
“I wouldn’t say it was our fault, but maybe for the younger guys it’s about keeping up with that intensity all the time,” Erasmus explained.
Louw joins up immediately with the Bok camp.