The 28-year-old has asked for an early release from his Bulls contract, which ends in 2026. The Bok flyer joined the Sagamihara DynaBoars in December and has made a huge impact in the Japanese league. He has scored seven tries in 12 matches.

If the Bulls grant Arendse his wish, he would be lost to the closing stages of the Bulls’ URC campaign and the next time he plays in South Africa will be for the Springboks. The Boks kick off their international season in late June.

The Bulls are currently in the third week of their month-long tour of Europe and this week have a tricky visit to the rapidly-improving Munster, and close their tour next week with a big ask against the champion Warriors in Glasgow.

The Bulls began their tour with an impressive Challenge Cup defeat of Bayonne (32-22) and last week recovered from a poor first half to almost pip Edinburgh (28-34).

When they return home, they have relatively easy home games against Welsh sides in Cardiff and the Dragons, so their next fortnight in Limerick and Glasgow is critical to their ambitions in the URC.

Munster started the season slowly and have been through the drama of a change in coach (Graham Rounrtee was replaced by Clayton McMillan). But they have been steadily climbing the points table and are currently fifth.

The 2023 URC champions looked more like their old selves when they upset French giants La Rochelle recently in the Champions Cup.

Jake White’s charges need no reminding that in the last match between the teams, in April last year in Pretoria, Munster won 27-22 to back up their win in Limerick in their previous encounter.

The Bulls’ highveld cousins, the Lions, have a much easier finish to the URC league phase, but they have no room for error. Cash van Rooyen’s team has four home games and they are against teams mostly in the bottom half of the points table.

The exception is Saturday’s opponents, Benetton, who are seventh out of the 16 teams. Next, the Lions host Connacht (13th), the Scarlets (11th), and Ospreys (12th).

The Lions are 14th on the log and have to get maximum points from these four games to have a shot at making the playoffs.

Benetton are a handy team and are packed with Italy internationals, but the Lions will take heart from the last time the teams played each other at Ellis Park — they won 37-29.