Nick Easter made his 250th appearance for Harlequins in Saturday’s crunch Premiership triumph over Leicester Tigers and scrum half Danny Care led the tributes labelling him the ‘best player he has ever played with’.

The 36-year-old, jettisoned from the international scene since the 2011 World Cup, put a try on a plate for the number nine to scamper home for his side’s opening score in their 32-12 bonus point win at a sold out Stoop.

It was just another of the 23 off loads and 145 carries Easter has made in the top flight this term that have left many – including Quins director of rugby Conor O’Shea – calling for his inclusion in England boss Stuart Lancaster’s squad for the forthcoming Six Nations and beyond.

Gloucester’s Ben Morgan broke his leg in his side’s narrow 24-23 win over Saracens on Friday night, leaving a number eight berth open to the former England captain.

And while Easter may not get any love from Lancaster, he collected it in spades from current England stars and clubmates Mike Brown and Care.

“Awesome win for the boys yesterday. Big shout out to the best player I've ever played with @nick_easter 250th game for the club,” said 27-year-old Care on Twitter.

Brown added: “Quality win yesterday. Good shift from all the boys. Need to push on now and do that every week.

“Huge congrats to The General @nick_easter on 250th. Great achievement. Not many play at high level season on season, week in week out, like him.”

Easter had a telling hand in tries for Care, Jack Clifford and Marland Yarde before Tim Swiel secured the bonus point for Quins that has O’Shea’s men two points off the top four ahead of this weekend’s return of European action and the visit of Wasps.

And while the former Rosslyn Park man might have passed his own personal milestone on Saturday, it was more important to him to get the result required.

“If this game had not gone the way we wanted we could have kissed our top four chances goodbye. We would have been hard pushed to qualify for Europe,” he said.

“There is no let up in intensity. It has got to step up a notch given the position we are in Europe and the level of opposition we are up against.

He added: “When I retire and look back I’ll say that is quite a big number [of appearances], but at the moment it is about the here and now and putting this club in a position to win silverware at the end of the year.

“That is why I signed for another two years because I believe in this group and there is no other club I want to play for.”