Pool D France v Ireland:Prior to yesterday Ronan O'Gara could be forgiven for thinking the next time he played with Eoin Reddan would be for Munster when they meet Reddan's club, Wasps, in their opening Heineken Cup match in Coventry, writes Johnny Wattersonin Bordeaux.

That the 79-capped scrumhalf, Peter Stringer, yesterday made way for the three-times capped Wasps player to come in and partner O'Gara was not anything most people anticipated. Reddan, in Irish coach Eddie O'Sullivan's parlance, is now getting his game headphones on.

Few disagree with the change as the off-form Stringer has been struggling and few further object to the Wasps scrumhalf leap-frogging the dreadlocked, Isaac Boss. In essence, number one Stringer is now third choice, number three Reddan is first choice and Boss remains on the bench. We live in interesting times.

"Well, I've never been told straight out that I'm third choice," says Reddan. "You've basically got different ways of picking squads and picking teams and I've always tried to have frank chats with the coaching staff.

"They've always been very honest with me and I've never had any reason to drop my head by what they've said to me. It's always been positive, not just in the last month but over the last three years. It was a matter of working hard and waiting for the break."

The break is obviously loaded with a few possible outcomes. He could be part of an heroic Irish win that saves World Cup embarrassment or the scrumhalf when Ireland ignominiously lost to France and go out of the competition. There is more money on the latter.

His partnership with Ronan O'Gara will also have to click immediately. "He's a good quality player. We haven't played much," observed a tetchy O'Gara yesterday. "I know he has been exceptional for Wasps and he deserves to play . . . it could be interesting."

Reddan was clearly surprised and yesterday as he was led across to the lake beside the team hotel for photographs, his look was a mix of confidence and mild bewilderment in that overnight he had become centre stage.

"Training has been good especially for the eight guys who haven't been involved in the squad up until now," he says. "We all worked very hard and one or two of us are in the squad this week and we're ready for it. It's a big game. I know we'll all enjoy it because we all enjoy playing big games. That's what you try and work hard for."

As part of the Wasps side that beat Leicester in this year's European Cup final, Reddan has carved out a near perfect career graph since moving to England. His story is one of being a bench warmer for Munster until being lured to Wasps in 2005 by former Irish coach, Warren Gatland. Two year's later the 27-year-old is now parachuted into his World Cup debut against France in a do-or-die match. He has played twice for Ireland this year, as a replacement against Scotland and in the second match in Ireland's tour to Argentina.

"We've definite plans for this weekend and we'll go out and try to win the game. I don't really think like that too much," he says of his dramatic entrance to the competition. "It's not up to me to worry about that."

Reddan is expected to bring different qualities than Stringer to the game. His defence is strong and he has a more varied game that will be asked to function in front of 80,000 fans.

"Selecting Eoin was based on the type of game we want to play," says O'Sullivan. "His form has been good with Wasps and he ticks all the boxes for what we want. There is a balance to his game. Peter Stringer's form recently hasn't been the best. He's struggling. Obviously he is very disappointed. But like every good player he took it on the chin. He has been the heartbeat of this team before and he will be again. He's just not on top of his game."

Who Reddan faces on the French team will be known today when Bernard Laporte announces his side. But as all the players have been saying, it is the state of their own game that keeps them anxious, not who the opposition are.

Given the amount of time Reddan has played with O'Gara at international level there are more fundamentals to worry about than whether it is going to be Jean-Baptiste Ealissalde or Pierre Mignoni.

"No not that much," replied Reddan when asked if he had played much with O'Gara. "I've trained a lot with him," he added to a round of giggles.

Now, here he is. It is all Reddan has ever wanted.