Only worry over Chris Robshaw is where England play him

In joining Quins, Robshaw stepped onto a conveyor belt that has produced 11 previous England captains, most notably Will Carling, who led his country a record 59 times after his surprise coronation as a 22-year-old against Australia in 1988 (England won 28-19).

In terms of caps, Robshaw will be the most inexperienced England captain for 27 years since another London-based leader, the then Wasps scrum-half Nigel Melville was skipper on his Test debut as a 23-year-old at Twickenham in November 1984. England lost 19-3 to Australia.

Robshaw has only one cap, against Argentina in Salta in June 2009; however, he led the non-cap midweek team during the 2010 tour against the Australian Barbarians and New Zealand Maori.

And Quins' director of rugby Conor O'Shea identified Robshaw as the ideal man to steer the club through the post-Bloodgate era in that same summer of 2010, succeeding Will Skinner.

The bigger concern may not be that Robshaw won't be up to the leadership job, but the position the 25-year-old might be asked to play.

The England back-row is a minefield of uncertain selection with Quins' Nick Easter dropped, Lewis Moody retired from Tests, James Haskell coining in the yen in Japan and Wood injured.

Though Robshaw, the 2008-09 Premiership player of the year, is best known as a flanker on the blind or openside, or mixing the two, he may be asked to wear the No8 jersey in addition to leading his country at Murrayfield.

Among the other back-row players available, Calum Clark, Phil Dowson (both Northampton) and Ben Morgan (Scarlets) are all uncapped, leaving the probable blindside Tom Croft of Leicester way ahead in terms of experience. Leicester No8 Thomas Waldrom, called up today from the Saxons and also uncapped, may yet have a shout.

Robshaw has played only a handful of matches for Quins at No8 - and just one this season against Wasps - with Easter and Tom Guest the regular picks at the base of the scrum.

"When Chris has played at No8 for us he has done it well but the reality is he's not asked to do it," said Kingston. "But he has a fantastic propensity to deal with any challenge. He's also one of the most coachable players you will ever come across. He's always cheery and he's never stopped being one of the lads."

Rarely flashy, but both skilled and forceful his arts of power-packed tackling and getting across the gainline with ball in hand, Robshaw dovetails perfectly with Quins' fast-moving, rapid-recycling style.

Throwing Robshaw the England No7 jersey and asking Morgan, Dowson or Waldrom to do the No8 job might be the sensible choice when England's interim head coach Stuart Lancaster names the team on Thursday.
Whatever the position, it will be Robshaw's decision-making that is under intense scrutiny.

In both Quins' Heineken Cup matches earlier this month he defied team-mates and conventional wisdom by scrummaging instead of going for goal when the scores were tight.

In both cases Quins failed to score but arguably it paid off against Gloucester when the opponents lost a prop to the sin bin. In Connacht, when Robshaw's men needed a win to reach the quarter-finals, they were stunned to be beaten 9-8 by a side who had lost their 14 previous matches.

The proud south Londoner will want a different result when the bagpipes stop and the Six Nations action starts.