'He's going to get better and better' - Edwin Edogbo ready to finally make impact at Munster

Edogbo impressed during his 53 minute appearance against Toulon last Sunday.

Tue, 13 Jan, 2026 - 01:00

Simon Lewis

Edwin Edogbo has long been touted as a potential difference maker for Munster and Ireland by coaches and team-mates alike and his 53 minutes against Toulon last Sunday showed why.

Yet for Clayton McMillan the next objective for the 23-year-old powerhouse lock is getting his big frame to a level where he can sustain his excellence for much deeper into games.

It should not be forgotten that the former Cobh Pirate has played very little top-level rugby due to two serious Achilles tendon injuries which have limited his senior Munster appearances to just 23 across four seasons.

The second of those Achilles ruptures, sustained against Leinster at Christmas 2023, cost Edogbo the 2024-25 season and Munster have understandably been easing the 6ft 5ins second row’s near 20 stones back slowly into the professional game.

So far so good, as evidenced by his performance as a starter in the 27-25 defeat at Stade Felix Mayol, with a couple of impactful carries over the gainline and two big turnovers.

It certainly impressed captain Tadhg Beirne, who said of Edogbo: “He's a young lad but he's performing well and he's being unbelievably physical out there and someone of his size, that's what we need from him and for him to empty the tank for as long as he can and he did that today and he played really well.”

For head coach McMillan, though, the best is yet to come and the New Zealander is aware that needs to be over longer stretches of games and that will take time, particularly in a fiercely competitive position with Beirne, Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley and Tom Ahern the more experienced alternatives and the likes of fellow rookies Evan O’Connell and Conor Ryan also desperate for game time.

“I keep getting told that he's a real point of difference physically to what you're probably accustomed to in Ireland,” McMillan said.

“You've got to recognise that he's two-and-a-half years out of the game and we've been sort of drip-feeding him, a start here, 20, 30 minutes there.

“So he's going to get better and better. You want to see a big man carry and impose himself physically. His challenge is just to keep growing his fitness base and stack more of those moments, because it'll benefit him and it'll benefit us.

“We're realistic around the lack of rugby that he's had and we're pretty blessed with other locks at the moment. There's some good ones that haven't really even had a chance, like Evan O'Connell, so he doesn't get an easy passage into the team.

"He's got to work hard and he's doing a pretty good job with that.”