EDWIN EDOGBO WAS initially reluctant to reveal what he intended to sing as his initiation song following his first Test cap on Saturday, believing journalists would soon see it themselves.

When he was informed that the media would not be privy to his performance, the giant Munster lock spilled the beans: “I’d say I might go with ‘Halo’ from Beyonce.”

Edogbo had learned off the lyrics and was ready to go. “It’s just a bit of singing,” he said. “Never hurt anyone.”

While the 23-year-old was in “100%” agreement with Andy Farrell’s reasoning for not including him in his matchday squad to face France — “there’s an element of knowing the system, knowing your teammates, and ultimately, international rugby is a different beast,” Edogbo said following his debut against Italy — he’s plainly not lacking in self-belief.

Even outside of ‘the system’, Test rugby brings with it pinch-me moments. For Edogbo, singing the anthems for the first time from the field will be a moment that stays with him forever.

“It was an unbelievable experience. I was talking to one of my coaches back home [Cathal Sheridan] just during the week. He was like, ‘Just make sure you take a moment to plan for that.’

“I tried my best but I didn’t quite [manage] it, singing the national anthem. It was a pretty special moment.”

While Edogbo was unable to locate his family in the stadium — that will surely come with experience — they had already surprised him on Thursday by attending his jersey presentation at the Shelbourne hotel, where Munster teammate Craig Casey delivered Edogbo’s first senior Ireland shirt. His family brought with them “a few videos from home [from] a few boys.”

Seeing what his upcoming debut meant to family and friends brought the whole thing home.

“I suppose you can be quite focused on yourself and team form, so you don’t really look outwards. But just seeing the smile on their faces and the messages they were sending came from the heart, it meant a lot,” Edogbo says.

He joked that “about 8,000″ people had travelled from Cobh to the Aviva Stadium, where he played the final 10 minutes and made a remarkable nine tackles as Ireland defended a slender lead over Italy.

Back home, meanwhile, The Paddock Bar at Cobh Pirates RFC was rammed, while the 80-foot projection of Edogbo onto the tower of nearby Belvelly Castle had also stirred something in him during the week.

“Yeah, that was unreal wasn’t it? That was amazing. I didn’t know they were going to do that, so that was pretty special as well.

“It’s amazing to represent your hometown. I’ve done a lot of these interviews, you know how much Cobh means to me. So for them to give me that little tribute was extra special.”

Edogbo’s interpretation of Ireland’s victory was that they had at least produced the “intent” that their coach felt they had lacked in Paris.

“I think those are what you call the championship minutes, the last five minutes on your own ’22, defending your own line and stuff like that, and I think the team showed that today so it was very pleasing to see.

“No game is perfect. I think we have a good platform now to build off.”

Edogbo’s highlight of his debut week, meanwhile, came a couple of hours before kick-off.

“I think the main one would be leaving the Shelbourne on the way to the bus on the way here, and just seeing the support in the hotel.

“Just people chanting, people saying good luck and all that, and just the amount of people that was there.

“I think that’s something rare that you get to experience so, yeah, it was definitely a nice feeling.”