Quins boss O’Shea relishing Leinster showdowns

Harlequins director of rugby Conor O’Shea is looking forward to two mouth-watering clashes with Leinster after his side secured a deserved 23-16 win over Wasps.

Quins moved just ahead of the Irish province to top the Champions Cup Pool Two standings with the victory at Adams Park and their fate is likely to be sealed when the teams meet twice in December.

And the games will have added significance for O’Shea who enjoyed a spell playing with Leinster.

“It is incredibly exciting for this group, Leinster and Toulon are the ones who have set the benchmark in Europe in recent years.

“I think I scored Leinster’s first try in Europe in a game against Milan in Italy and it is going to be really nice going back.

“They (Leinster) showed what they are all about by coming back from 9-16 down to take victory in Castres. When you look at teams like Leinster and Munster, they always seem to find a way to come though in tight games.

“This was our best performance by a long stretch and a real improvement on last week.

” We had so much dominance for so much of the game although our ambition in the first half did not yield what we wanted

“It is a win and it is lovely for the players and to feel good about getting back to the way we like to play.

“If you get two scores ahead you can get the belief that allows you to go on a roll and it is a bit disappointing we could not pull away.