Harlequins boss Conor O’Shea praised the performance of Danny Care after the halfback’s fine solo try in a 25-21 win over Leicester returned the champions to the top of the English Premiership.

Care, who will be eyeing a place on the Lions’ tour of Australia this year, has found himself playing second fiddle to Leicester’s Ben Youngs recently while on England duty.

And the fact Care, and several other players, were released from England’s training camp for this match by national head coach Stuart Lancaster suggest they are not in line to start when the unbeaten Six Nations leaders face France at Twickenham next weekend.

But after watching Care’s display in a clash of Premiership giants where Kiwi five-eighth Ben Botica, the son of former dual code international Frano, kicked 20 points for Quins and Tony Flood, displaced as England’s starting stand off by Owen Farrell, scored 16 for Leicester, O’Shea was in no doubt of his quality.

“The right reaction was to come back and perform for your club,” said O’Shea.

“That was world-class out there tonight. You’re fortunate to be able to watch those types of moments.

“From Stuart Lancaster’s point of view, he must be thinking, ‘I’ve got Ben Youngs and Danny Care – how lucky am I?’

“I’m always going to back my own player. Danny’s outstanding. From Stuart Lancaster’s point of view there are two (British and Irish) Lions-standard scrum-halves competing (for the England No.9 shirt).