AS TOULON TRIED to crack the Munster defence in an error-strewn first half at the Stade Mayol on Saturday, the French side repeatedly left the Munster 22 frustrated and with nothing to show for their efforts. Much of that was their own fault as passes failed to find their intended targets or they were too slow to react at the breakdown, but much of it was also due to a steely Munster defensive effort.

Edwin Edogbo was at the heart of that effort, putting his mark on the occasion by delivering a series of impactful plays, including an important turnover and a strong carry. He finished with a game-leading three turnovers, 12 tackles, and four carries.

While the 23-year-old was making just his second Champions Cup start, the young Cork forward was arguably Munster’s most impactful player on the day, as a late Toulon penalty saw the province fall to an 27-25 defeat at a fizzing Stade Felix Mayol.

Edogbo put in a relentless 55-minute shift before being replaced by Ruadhan Quinn, but the former UCC man is clearly benefiting from putting a series of games together following his long run of injury problems. Edogbo tore his Achilles against Leinster in December 2023 and missed the entirety of last season. He had previously suffered his first Achilles injury in 2021. This is his first season playing Champions Cup rugby, and he’s featured eight times across all competitions to date – already a career-high having played seven games across the 2022/2023 and 2023/24 campaigns. 

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

“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 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.”

Munster captain Tadhg Beirne was equally impressed with the young lock’s performance.

“Yeah, look, 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.”

Edogbo made some powerful carries at the Stade Mayol. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

McMillan was also pleased with the impact of young forwards Brian Gleeson and Ruadhan Quinn, who both make positive contributions after being introduced in the second half – Quinn was a late addition to the matchday squad as Tom Ahern pulled out with injury. However, the Munster boss also noted the second-half changes probably played a role in some of Munster’s lineout struggles.

“Yeah that’s not easy, you know, for a game of this standing, to basically get a call to come in at late notice, but try and prepare for those sorts of situations and they certainly you’ve got enough reps.

“I guess that’s one of the risks, when you have a hybrid lock and lock loose forward and then you have another couple of loose forwards on the bench is that if you exhaust your bench, it’s probably going to have some impact on the rhythm of your lineout and you can do everything you can in the week to help prepare, and there was just one or two we probably just, didn’t lose our way, it was just… there’s the lack of those tall men that are just accustomed to winning ball under pressure.

Munster captain Tadhg Beirne. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO

“But those two guys in particular, young guys, they’re a bit like him (Beirne), there’s good young talent coming through in Munster, the sort of profile player that we need, they’re big, physical but they’re wet behind the ears and they’re learning each time they come out on the field and at some stage it’s going to pay dividends for us.”

While Munster took pride in a battling display, ultimately, they came out on the wrong side of a tight contest and will hold regrets around how they managed some periods of the game. Next up, it’s a home clash with a Castres side who sit a point behind Munster at the bottom of the pool table.

“We have to win it,” said Beirne. “The reality is we probably need a bonus point as well to put ourselves into contention going forward, so it’s going to be a huge game.

It’s a huge week for us, and we’re going to have to really step up and the performance out there is going to have to take a couple of steps to make sure we get over the line.

“Many Munster teams in the past, when their backs were against the wall have turned up and performed, it’ll be no different next week. We need to win badly, we need a bonus point in reality, so we’re going to have to step up a huge amount.”

Related Reads

Snippets of promise but familiar frustrations cost Munster in Toulon

'We need to get better' - Leinster well positioned ahead of Bayonne trip

Casey injury a concern as late penalty call frustrates Munster

One of the areas they’ll look to address is the lineout, which had a poor success rate of just 63% in Toulon.

“Yeah, look, they just they defended well towards the end there. It’s just the way they defended and then some mix-up in one of the calls as well, like we had a late changes there towards the end and probably, maybe, that had a little bit of effect, I don’t know, but it shouldn’t.

“We should be much better than that. Obviously frustrating that we lost one there towards the end when it was in a pretty pivotal point of the game as well.”