NEC Harlequins team boss Mike Scott believes the weekend's European finals have provided the club with a stark reminder of the challenge they face next season.

A seventh-placed finish in the Guinness Premiership secured a place at the top table of European rugby for 2006-07 after Bath succumbed to ASM Clermont-Auvergne 22-16 in the Challenge Cup on Saturday.

A day later, London Wasps thwarted Leicester Tigers' bid to complete an unprecedented triple in front of a record 81,076-strong crowd at Twickenham, scoring an impressive 25-9 win to claim the Heineken Cup.

Defensive coach Shaun Edwards claimed Wasps' Premiership campaign had been hampered by the loss of 13 players to international duty.

Quins have the same number on representative duty this summer - on top of England Sevens trio Danny Care, Charlie Amesbury and Tom Williams.

Props John Brooks and Chris Brooker, lock James Percival, fly-half Chris Malone and back-row Phil Davies are the only new arrivals confirmed so far as replacements for the raft of departures at the end of the campaign.

But Scott is confident director of rugby Dean Richards has the resources to cope with the increased number of high-profile games coming to the Stoop next season.

"Wasps and Leicester are very good teams and showed why they are probably the top two teams in England," he said.

"That is the sort of level we must step up to in order to be successful next season.

"Just because you are in a higher level of competition, it doesn't mean you stop trying to win every single game - and that is what we will be aiming to do.

"It has made no difference to our recruitment plans.

"Our work on that front is 99 per cent done for now. There will be a couple more signings but they will not be confirmed for a few months."

Having secured a place in Europe's elite competition, Quins could now play a Heineken Cup group match at Twickenham for the second time. Chief executive Mark Evans was in charge of the team that went down 18-10 to Munster at rugby HQ in 2005.

"We played what was effectively a dead rubber there last time and attracted more than 33,000 fans," Scott said.

"Should we draw someone such as Munster again, there is no telling what the demand might be for tickets."