Easter set to commit future to Quins (From Surrey Comet)

Easter set to commit future to Quins

4:05pm Monday 13th February 2012 in Sport By Stuart Amos

Harlequins number eight Nick Easter is set to commit his future to the club and top of his agenda is winning his England place back.

The 33-year-old, who has 47 caps, was jettisoned from acting England head coach Stuart Lancaster's England squad last month - less than 12 months after lifting the Six Nations trophy.

The Epsom-born former Rosslyn Park star was in inspired form as Quins edged out London Irish 30-23 on Saturday just before back row colleague Chris Robshaw led his country to a 19-15 triumph over Italy in Rome.

Director of rugby Conor O'Shea described man of the match Easter's display against the Exiles as 'absolutely incredible' as his men returned to winning ways after back-to-back LV= Cup defeats to Leicester Tigers and Cardiff Blues respectively.

And the Stoop chief insisted the veteran is not ready to slip quietly away from international rugby just yet.

"Do I think England got rid of him prematurely? Yes. Is he finished at international level? No," said O'Shea.

"He is the best number eight in the country.

"Hopefully, we'll have some good news on Nick and his long term future at the club this week, which will be a boost to everyone.

"People talk about people's age. Nick started the game late in terms of professional rugby and he will go on late.

"In battle you need people like him. He may be a little bit old school, but he is bloody talented and he is hard.

"He has told Stuart Lancaster he wants to get back into the England squad. I don't think he is finished."

Tries from Tom Casson, Tom Williams and Ross Chisholm - plus 15 points from Nick Evans - gave Quins the points on Saturday, after being forced to come from 13-10 down at the break.

Williams deft grubber kick set up Chisholm for the decisive try and O'Shea has warned his side's Premiership title aspirations are taking shape.

"You take a calculated risk by giving eight people time off for the last two weeks, but you have to think of the long term benefits," he added.

"Nick Easter repaid us with a great performance and to see Nick Evans running around without strapping makes a big difference.

"This is a four week block, starting with two home games, and then we have three weeks off, which for us - in terms of being able to plot until the end of the season - is huge.

"I was really happy with the way we went about it, but I think we have a lot of gears left in us."