If Harlequins make it to the Premiership final they will do so by keeping faith with the style that sees them top of the table going into the final weekend of the campaign.

Director of rugby Conor O’Shea men crashed 43-33 at home to Leicester Tigers on Saturday to end an unbeaten record at the Stoop that stretches back to May.

Quins must beat Sale Sharks at Edgeley Park next week – ideally with a bonus point – to be certain of finishing in top spot going into the play-off semi-finals.

The Premiership leaders have stuttered since winning their opening 10 league games of the campaign, while the Tigers are the form team of the competition and go into the play-offs as favourite to make the final showdown on May 26.

But a win at Wembley against Saracens last month suggested Quins are ready to go all the way and O’Shea insisted it would be done in the manner supporters have become accustomed to this term.

“We set out stall out to at the start of the season to play a certain style of rugby,” he said.

“We believe if we stick to our guns and execute our processes, then we will win more often than not.

“Both sides took risks at the weekend and that is how the game should be played. Our execution let us down at times.

“We can be pragmatic when we want to be, but there are fine lines in sport and we could have won that game just as easily as we ended up losing it.

“We’ve had a great season. It has been exciting and we deserve to be where we are.

“We want to be playing major finals, but it is completely irrelevant if we don’t go on and finish it off.”