Quins centre Matt Hopper may have benefited from an injury to George Lowe, but he is determined not to let the opportunity pass him by.

The 26-year-old marked his Heineken Cup debut – and first Quins start – with a try in Saturday’s 28-6 triumph over Gloucester at Kingsholm – six months after losing the Championship play-off final with the Cornish Pirates.

Hopper’s effort added to scores from in-form full back Mike Brown and number eight Nick Easter as Quins extended their winning start to the season to 12 matches.

And he only hopes there are more where that came from.

“It was a bit of a baptism of fire and a pretty tough game, although the scoreline might not reflect that,” he said.

“The boys put in a tremendous performance and I was just happy to get on the scoresheet. I struggled a bit at the start of the season and had the odd injury, but I’ve been feeling pretty good recently.

“George has been unfortunate, but they often say you are one injury away from a start and now I’ve got the chance of a run of games.”

Quins host Newcastle on Sunday, before games with London Wasps, Toulouse (twice) and Saracens in a busy end to 2011.

And Hopper admitted it was a huge difference to last year.

“There are some massive games coming up for us. It seems such a long time ago, that I was playing in the Championship,” he added.

“We’ve just go to keep focused on our performance and the results will come.”