RUGBY: New England coach Andy Robinson and the RFU are actively seeking to find out if the ex-Connacht and Ireland A flanker Johnny O'Connor can become eligible for England under the three-year residency ruling. Robinson has been a long-time admirer of the Wasps openside.

O'Connor, who has been told of England's interest, last played for Ireland A four seasons ago, since when the IRB have ruled that a player capped at A level cannot switch nationalities, backdating it to January 2001.

But the English have reputedly sought legal advice as to whether the ruling can be applied retrospectively.

Were they to overturn the ruling, O'Connor would become eligible for the world champions in the summer of 2006. The possibility of exploring O'Connor's lineage to see if he could qualify by bloodline hasn't been looked into, and O'Connor is reluctant to go down that route.

The odds must be that O'Connor will break into the Irish set-up by then, but there is clear evidence the English management covet him. Lawrence Dallaglio, who recently retired from England, likens O'Connor to the great All Black Josh Kronfeld, describing him as the best openside in these islands.

Warren Gatland, the former Ireland and current Wasps coach, confirmed England's interest: "Andy Robinson reckons Johnny could be the starting number seven in the Lions test series."

There was much debate in the English media last season as to why Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan wasn't picking O'Connor before his achilles injury. O'Sullivan was known to have watched O'Connor play for Wasps.

Last week O'Sullivan paid a visit to the Wasps ground in High Wycombe, with Niall O'Donovan, and O'Connor was man of the match. Were O'Connor included in the autumn internationals then England's interest would become redundant.

The 24-year-old himself is naturally reluctant to discuss such a hypothetical possibility: "To be honest, it's not something I've thought about or looked into, and I don't know if I could go down that road. As a kid growing up I only ever dreamt about playing for Ireland, and I don't know if I could ever play for anybody else. Then again, further down the road, if there was an opportunity to play international rugby, you'd have to look at it," he said.

"A decision like that would be very, very hard. I'm from the really wild part of Ireland," he joked. "It's a very hard question you're asking me, and like I said, I only ever dreamt about playing for Ireland."