Harlequins director of rugby Conor O’Shea believes his young players have proved they are capable of performing at senior level.
O’Shea has been without several of his international stars for the past two weeks, such as captain Chris Robshaw, fly-half Danny Care, full-back Mike Brown and prop Joe Marler.
But their replacements have helped Quins to two wins in the LV= Cup.
“I could not be prouder of this group of players over the past two weeks,” O’Shea said.
“In terms of defence we hurled our bodies on the line and that to me shows more about this group of players than anything else.
“I couldn’t want for a group of fellows to push as hard in terms of bottle and heart.
“Young Louis Grimoldby – he’s 18 – he’s been playing at Richmond and he came off the bench [against Bath] for his first senior game.
“He stepped up and kicked goals under pressure when we needed him to get us further ahead – you can’t coach bottle bottle like that.
“Kyle Sinclair is playing in the Under-20s, Jack Clifford is in the Under-20s and for Louis to come on and do what he did – these players have set a real bar in terms of attitude for a lot of people to follow.”
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