A dispute has broken out between the IRFU and London Wasps over the signature of Ireland openside flanker Johnny O'Connor for next season. Wasps, who signed O'Connor from Connacht two years ago, issued a statement yesterday claiming to have reached a deal with the player to extend his contract.

O'Connor was not available for comment yesterday but was quoted on Planet-rugby.com as saying: "I'm very happy to be at Wasps next season. Playing at Wasps is a great privilege.

"The set-up at the club is fantastic, and the challenges of training and playing with this group of people, which has helped my game so much since I joined, will undoubtedly continue to do so next season," added O'Connor.

But the IRFU and Connacht claim that they too have reached an agreement with the international and had agreed to allow the player to concentrate on completing his first Six Nations campaign this weekend before putting pen to paper early next week.

The disagreement then took a turn yesterday when reliable IRFU sources were warned that O'Connor's first-team place at Wasps might be in jeopardy for the remainder of this season if he signed for another club.

A spokesperson for Wasps refused to go into detail but did issue a statement in relation to the allegation that O'Connor would be dropped if he signed for another club.

"The response from London Wasps on this matter is that we can neither confirm nor deny the activities of the club or players in relation to this issue," said the statement from Wasps.

However, Connacht and the IRFU are angry with the development. Discussions have been taking place over the past few weeks between Connacht, the IRFU and O'Connor and there were strong indications that the player was coming back to Ireland.

Gerry Kelly, CEO of Connacht Rugby, expressed his surprise and anger at the Wasps announcement.

"We did not stand in Johnny's way when he indicated two years ago he wanted to go there, so we would not expect a club, least of all one in which Warren Gatland is in charge of, to stand in his way when he wants to return.

"There is a question of priorities here. The first is that Johnny should have been allowed complete his Six Nations campaign, as he himself wished, without finalising his contract for next season.

"The next is that nothing comes in the way of his selection for the Lions and the third is that everything is done to ensure that Johnny is in the Irish World Cup squad for 2007.

"Our approach is in line with the stated IRFU policy that current international players be based in this country," said Kelly.