Bath can send Harlequins into Heineken Cup by beating Worcester

Harlequins are hoping rivals Bath can earn them a place in the prestigious Heineken Cup for the second season in succession.

Bath lost in the final of last season's European Challenge Cup to let Quins into the tournament. Now they must rely on Bath beating Worcester in Sunday's final at Gloucester.

If Bath - led by new England captain Steve Borthwick for the last time before he joins Saracens - win, then Quins will make it into the Heineken Cup. A Worcester victory means they miss out. Mark Evans, the Quins chief executive, said: "Of course we are hoping to make it into the Heineken Cup again but missing out would not make this a bad season. We finished with 63 points in the Premiership compared to 51 we gathered last season and 11 of our players have been selected for the various England squads.

"It's a tough result for me to call. Bath have been going well and lost in the play-off semi-finals against London Wasps while Worcester finished the Premiership season strongly."