Young on the up as he bids to bring down champions

“I’ve got a few headaches in selection that I didn’t have last season. We will have armoury on the bench that we didn’t have. I’d much rather have the headaches I’ve got to the ones I had last season which was just about getting 23 players on the park.”

There were no such problems for Quins last year as they claimed their first Premiership and O’Shea has only tinkered with his squad. However, the Irishman will have to juggle a different set of difficulties this year with skipper Chris Robshaw, Danny Care, Mike Brown and Joe Marler all set for lengthy absences with England during the autumn and the Six Nations.

During pre-season O’Shea enlisted the help of Adrian Hayes, the polar explorer, who talked to the team about goal setting and team work and O’Shea, who used 42 players in the Premiership last year, is confident in his squad even if the England boys are away.

He says: “Hopefully, we will be on a different level. If we get things right we will be a very hard team to beat and a better side than we were last year.”

If Quins are there to be shot at London Irish hope to be firing some of the bullets now that Brian Smith is back home after his stint as England’s attack coach. Smith, who rejoined Irish after the post-World Cup shake-up, has brought fly-half Shane Geraghty back from Brive and bolstered the pack with second row George Skivington — who played teenage rugby for London Irish — from Leicester.

Smith’s side open up against Saracens in the second game at Twickenham and he knows what to expect from the former champions who have not been the easiest side on the eye in the past three seasons.

Sarries, led by Steve Borthwick, will be tough to beat again but Smith isn’t a fan of their no-frills approach and has his Irish side primed to go out all guns blazing.

“We expect what you always get from Saracens,” said Smith. “They will play their kick-chase and they are a very efficient side and they will play the same way as they always play.

“We don’t want to be like Saracens in any way, shape or form. We believe in open attacking football. We have got no interest whatsoever in trying to replicate what Saracens have done.”

If London’s big four are aiming for the top then London Welsh are aiming just to be in the top 11 of the table and ensure another season of Premiership rugby.

The league’s newest club will be without Gavin Henson, who has a fractured cheek, for four weeks and open up against Leicester in Oxford on Sunday and five days later they have to travel to the Stoop to play Quins. After that things can only get better.