WHEN EDWIN EDOGBO first encountered the game of rugby, he was on his way to play tennis.
His younger brother Seán was playing mini rugby with their local club Cobh Pirates at the time, and Edogbo decided to divert and have a look. The switch in interest was instant. From the first time he saw the oval ball twirl in air, he was eager to play. Edogbo was 13 at the time and didn’t own any rugby equipment. He even had to borrow a pair of boots just to get out there for his first session.
He clearly had ground to make on the peers who had been throwing the rugby ball around from when they were tots. Yet Edwin was hooked regardless. He dropped one racket and threw himself straight into another. And this one has stuck through the years.
After starting out as a centre, he quickly found a settled home down in the trenches of the pack. And that’s where he’s still flourishing today for Munster as the first Cobh Pirates clubman to play professional rugby for the province. Edogbo was added to the Munster academy in 2021 as a 19-year-old, and despite a lengthy absence due to an Achilles injury, he has developed into a regular choice for Graham Rowntree in the second row.
He will most likely feature again this weekend when Munster travel up to face Leinster this weekend for another installment of the enduring rivalry.
“He started playing at U13s,” Cobh Priates PRO Richie McGrath tells The 42 as he recalls the earliest days of Edogbo’s rise to professional rugby.
“His coaches that time were Kevin O’Keefe and Ray Duignam. Both of them are still involved in the club. He started out as a centre which is a scary prospect when you see him now. He progressed to the forwards at U16 and U18 where he was coached by Colm McCoitir [U16s] and Bernard Kiely [U18s].
“When he finished the juvenile section with Cobh, he went to UCC at the start of Covid. His pathway was pretty much from Cobh to Munster and he didn’t get to play any AIL rugby.”
Typically, emerging players who want to contest for a place in their province’s academy will make their case through the schools competitions. Many of Ireland’s greatest are products of that traditional system. McGrath, however, says that Edogbo’s pathway isn’t entirely a rare case.
“It’s actually more common around Cork. And to be fair, Munster addressed that some years ago. Munster have a schools team and a clubs team so the clubs have their fair share to see what it takes to progress, and the development squad is the best of both,” McGrath says.
“It’s the same with his brother Seán. He’s followed in Edwin’s footsteps to UCC. He’s knocking on the door of the Munster academy now and I’m told that he’s there or thereabouts. He’s playing senior rugby and he’s only 19. He’s pretty similar to Edwin but he’s got a bit more pace so he’s in the backrow.”
An Achilles tendon injury is one of the worst for an athlete in their prime. It’s a diagnosis that provokes a chill comparable with the news that you’ve had an ACL tear. It’s not the pain that is the most devastating aspect, but the prolonged recovery. Edogbo was sidelined for much of the 2021 season when his Achilles turned on him, delaying his Munster debut until 2022 against the Dragons.
Given the isolation and tedious rehabilitation programmes involved, injuries of that nature can test the mental fortitude of an athlete. However, Edogbo wasn’t completely on his own in his recovery and had the company of RG Snyman to help him through it. Snyman was battling his way back from cruciate hell at the time and could relate to Edogbo’s plight.
In a YouTube video published by Munster Rugby, Edogbo explains how the South African World Cup winner was there to greet him and assist him during his first gym session.
“It was amazing working beside him,” Edogbo said.
Edogbo has come through that long ordeal to make his mark with Munster. He scored his first try for the province last in a win over the Sharks last month before charging over for another one against the Stormers last weekend in what was a repeat of the URC final. Edogbo was the only try-scorer in that game as Munster emerged from the wet conditions with vital URC points.
“The unique part about that [Achilles injury] was that he was still accepted into the academy when he was injured,” says McGrath.
“He’s one of these guys who benefited from Covid. He took that injury but now he’s a prominent part of the matchday 23. I remember at the start of last season when there was huge hype around him but now there’s an expectation around the club. And he’s only 20. He’s only a young fella and he has his whole career ahead of him. There’s huge expectations and he’s already being tipped to get into the international squad.
“He has his slot in the squad but the way Graham Rowntree plays the game, it’s very much horses for courses. But either way, it seems that Edwin is part of it. His scoring ability from close in…. he dragged three guys over the line with him in both cases when he scored [against Sharks and Stormers].”
Now that he has planted his flag in Munster, Edogbo could well be earmarked for an international call-up in the near future. That’s certainly the hope among his clubmates in Cobh, who continue to see the 20-year-old regularly as he calls in to watch their games.
JC Daly represented the Cobh Pirates club on the Ireland squad who achieved Grand Slam success in 1948. That baton now passes to Edogbo in the professional era. Fate has played a big role in his career to date. The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted his underage development, but it also resulted in him making the leap from club to professional rugby.
This all started with a young boy getting sidetracked from his day out at tennis, and heading down a road into rugby that’s still going. And going. There’s plenty of miles left in Edogbo yet.
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