NICK Easter's performance against Biarritz will make it harder for England boss Stuart Lancaster to ignore the no8 for the forthcoming autumn internationals, according to Conor O'Shea.

Harlequins' director of rugby was thrilled by his team's 40-13 victory in their opening Heineken Cup tie and happy to acknowledge the part played in it by man of the match Easter.

“Probably people are bored of me talking the way I do about him, but he's absolutely magnificent and he will keep on knocking until someone answers,” said O'Shea of Easter's England credentials.

“It's great for us, because of his ambition. The Nick Easter bandwagon is on a roll. He's desperate to play for England, but he's absolutely magnificent playing for Harlequins and that's the sort of player you need in every squad.”

Easter's display was the catalyst for a superb second half from the Quins, who romped away with it after the teams had trooped in all square at the break at 13-13.

But O'Shea was not surprised his team did not get on top until the second half.

“You [have to] do the groundwork,” he said. “This is the Heineken Cup and it's against Biarritz and if you think any team's going to just blast someone away, it's not going to happen.

“I think the players were so positive, which was the great thing coming in at half time. We started to play in better field positions and then we knew the scores would come, so I'm absolutely delighted with the response.

“Last week [at Exeter], we learnt that you have to work hard every minute of every game and if you don't, you get stung.”