In focus/Johnny O'Connor: At 9.30 yesterday morning Johnny O'Connor was thrown a reprieve. He probably saw the axe falling last week but Eddie O'Sullivan's record of loyalty to winning teams would have been a worry.

Whether he was expecting it or not, being left out against Italy had to hurt.

One thing is abundantly clear: nobody owns the number seven jersey. At least not since Keith Gleeson had it 12 months back.

Gleeson is still recuperating form a broken leg so Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan continues to alternate between the contrasting styles of O'Connor and Denis Leamy. Both were introduced in the autumn and now O'Connor follows Leamy in making his Six Nations debut.

Leamy's physical approach was preferred for the Italian bruiser but O'Connor returns for the different challenge of Scotland. O'Sullivan stressed the Munster man was not dropped on performance, which was described as "solid" without making as big an impact as perhaps Leamy would have liked.

Like last week, the versatile Eric Miller ensures the departing flanker fails to make the bench.

"That's part and parcel of it," said O'Connor. "Not getting picked was disappointing but Denis had been playing well and deserved his opportunity. It went against me. Fair enough. You have to move on."

Back he went to London Wasps without complaint. He knew that, come Monday, the enlarged squad would reconvene and another chance would present itself.

"They can't be patting you on the back and trying to look after you. I'm an adult now. It's a professional sport so I've got to move on. I think I did alright in the autumn internationals but I think I can do an awful lot better and I know I need to do a lot better.

"If you want to keep on top of your game it's always good to have a lot of good players around pushing you.

"I can't think about what other people are doing. I've just got to get on with my own job and that is this weekend."

This job is very clear-cut: clean up the breakdown, something not possible against the Italians. The new rules concerning the release of the ball were not overly enforced last weekend - O'Sullivan has hinted this might lead to a backlash from the officials in this weekend's games - but O'Connor will still endeavour to pinch every ball on the deck.

"It's a big part of my game and hopefully I can have some sort of influence there, but I don't want to say too much as I don't want to get reffed out of it.

"It didn't seem that much different (last weekend), obviously people have to release the ball quicker, which is fair enough.

"Sometimes if they do hold on it's frustrating as a seven when you feel you have a turnover. Maybe it's a bit better for me but I'll see how it goes."

Saturday is a chance to sort out the jersey swapping, once and for all, before England come to Dublin on February 27th.

It begs the question whether O'Connor will ever go back to Connacht. When a recent outcry from the west called for the return of the native players, O'Connor was top of the list, although the IRFU claim the province don't have the money to start bringing home such high-profile names.

O'Connor is currently in renegotiations with Wasps as his contract is up in the summer. A significant impact on Saturday will ensure other English clubs and, no doubt, some French will be waiting to pounce if Wasps don't produce a tidy package.

"It would be nice to go home and obviously I'd like to go home at some stage in my career. Whether it's the right time for me is a different question. I'm not too sure."

A Connacht man in exile. Nothing really changes, except the resident at number seven.