{"id":303455,"date":"2026-02-18T01:36:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T01:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/303455\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T01:36:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T01:36:19","slug":"its-not-right-irelands-edogbo-doing-well-after-horrible-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/303455\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;It&#8217;s not right&#8217; \u2013 Ireland&#8217;s Edogbo doing well after horrible abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>THE MOST MEMORABLE part of Edwin Edogbo\u2019s debut for Ireland was the rousing roar he received when he strode onto the pitch.<\/p>\n<p>It was a hearty welcome for the Cobh man, whose talent is so exciting for Irish supporters.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone who was in the Aviva Stadium was in no doubt about how popular Edogbo\u2019s first cap was. It was one of the loudest moments of the entire afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>As he proceeded to launch himself into nine powerful tackles in his 10-minute stint on the pitch, as well as helping to shore up the Irish scrum, there was further evidence of how good the Munster lock could be in green.<\/p>\n<p>Edgobo was frustrated to give away a penalty, but even that moment showed his attitude, one of attacking the game rather than shying away. Barely a minute later, he very nearly won a breakdown turnover under Ireland\u2019s posts.<\/p>\n<p>All going well, Edogbo will get another chance in green this weekend in Twickenham, but it was a proud day for him and his family, who visited the Ireland team hotel in Dublin on Thursday for his first jersey presentation.<\/p>\n<p>But there was a deeply bitter note to what had been a heartwarming story when it became clear that several IRFU posts about Edogbo had attracted racist comments.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The IRFU has launched an investigation into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the42.ie\/irfu-edogbo-abuse-6958536-Feb2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">those \u201ccowardly\u201d comments<\/a>, and\u00a0it is hoped that some of the culprits will be tracked down and punished.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, in Ireland camp, Edogbo has been doing his best to get on with the rugby business.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771378579_347_.jpeg\"  alt=\"edwin-edogbo-celebrates-after-the-match\" class=\"alignnone inline-image\" \/><br \/>\n            Edogbo won his first cap last Saturday.                    \u00a9INPHO<\/p>\n<p>    \u00a9INPHO\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook, it\u2019s horrible to see that in this day and age, it still exists like that,\u201d said Ireland assistant coach Johnny Sexton today.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn terms of how he is, he\u2019s good.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think he would have paid too much attention to it, and I don\u2019t know if he would have even seen too much of it. He\u2019s a pretty humble guy, really level-headed, but it\u2019s not right, some of the comments that were made.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel for him, I feel for his family. It marred a pretty special day for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Edogbo was out on the pitch as Ireland ramped up their preparations for this Saturday\u2019s visit to Twickenham with a big session today.<\/p>\n<p>All members of Ireland\u2019s Six Nations squad trained, including Garry Ringrose, who bore strapping on the right knee that was caught in a tackle late on against Italy.<\/p>\n<p>Ireland have also brought Bundee Aki back into camp despite him still being unavailable to play against England.<\/p>\n<p>This weekend\u2019s game is the final of the three Aki was suspended for due to the verbal abuse of and lack of respect towards the match officials following Connacht\u2019s URC defeat to Leinster last month.<\/p>\n<p>The IRFU issued a strong statement before Aki was even banned, but Andy Farrell and the Ireland camp voiced their strong support for the Connacht centre and said he would be considered for the final two games of the Six Nations against Wales and Scotland.<\/p>\n<p>Aki will be free to make his comeback for Connacht against Glasgow in the URC in two weekends, which could tee him up to return for Ireland in those closing two rounds of the championship.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771378579_724_.jpeg\"  alt=\"bundee-aki\" class=\"alignnone inline-image\" \/><br \/>\n            Bundee Aki at Ireland training today.                    Ben Brady \/ INPHO<\/p>\n<p>    Ben Brady \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n<p>Ireland are excited about a big test in London this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Having lost to France in the opening game of the Six Nations, then beaten Italy last weekend, Farrell\u2019s men are aiming to keep their hopes of silverware alive on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny time you go to Twickenham is a huge challenge, no matter where you are or what stage of a World Cup cycle it is,\u201d said Sexton. \u201cIt\u2019s always a big challenge.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we\u2019ll take some good learnings from the French game. It\u2019s important we learn some lessons from that, and make sure we turn up, put our game plan into place, but also have the intent that we need to have when we go to an away venue like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>England have confirmed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the42.ie\/england-team-ireland-six-nations-6959730-Feb2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">their matchday 23<\/a> to face Ireland, with Tom Curry and Ollie Lawrence coming into the team, while 21-year-old Henry Pollock gets his first start at number eight.<\/p>\n<p>Sexton knows a few of the English players from last summer\u2019s Lions tour, including Pollock.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a great character,\u201d said Sexton. \u201cI got on very well with him on the Lions tour in a weird kind of way. But he\u2019s an outstanding player, full of talent, full of energy. I think this is his first start and it can be tougher. The game is played at a different pace than when he\u2019s been coming on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut he\u2019s been outstanding for Northampton for the last couple of years, and we need to understand what kind of threat he\u2019ll bring and try and nullify it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE MOST MEMORABLE part of Edwin Edogbo\u2019s debut for Ireland was the rousing roar he received when he&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[132379,5040,61,60,54623,43,9277,15551,2057],"class_list":{"0":"post-303455","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-edwin-edogbo","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-johnny-sexton","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-none","15":"tag-six-nations","16":"tag-support"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}