Harlequins skipper Will Skinner wants his men to erase the memory of 2008 and land a top four Guinness Premiership finish.

Quins were denied a play-off spot on the last day of the season by Leicester Tigers two years ago having earlier found themselves in a similar position in the standings to where they are today.

New director of rugby Conor O’Shea’s men have six games to rescue an otherwise miserable campaign by qualifying for Europe and pushing for a play-off spot.

Thirty points - including wins at Saracens and Leicester - could yet see them sneak in to the top four and Skinner is out to make sure they don’t suffer a repeat of the heartache of Welford Road.

“We are in a similar position to two years ago, so as a side we still have a lot to play for. We are not out of it,” he insisted.

“You learn from your experiences as we did last season and in our first year back in the Premiership, but you cannot dwell on these things too much.

“We have got to improve and we have to compete for everything. This is a vital mini-season to us and it is my job to make sure we are all on the right page.”

O’Shea took residence at the Stoop this week to finally draw a line under the ‘Bloodgate’ scandal that saw former incumbent Dean Richards resign in the summer.

And Skinner thinks the Irishman has a golden opportunity to shower himself in glory over the remaining weeks of the campaign.

“He has come an exciting time. There is plenty of rugby still to be played and the pitches are drying up, which suits our style down to the ground,” he added.

“I met with him a few weeks ago and am really excited about working with him. He will need time to see how we operate as players and as men.

“It will be wrong of him to change anything drastically, because one of the reasons he came here is that is excited about what has already been built.

“We’ve got our England boys coming back and everyone has had a chance to recharge for the run in.

“He has a chance to achieve something and everyone is excited about that.”

Harlequins’ next three games: Mar 27 Bath (a), Apr 3 Newcastle Falcons (h), Apr 10 Leeds Carnegie (h).