If you speak to those in and around Harlequins, then one name crops up consistently as the reason for the club's rise to Premiership champions - Conor O'Shea.
Contention
The combinations on and off the field certainly seem to be working wonders - with the club top of the Premiership and Heineken Cup standings.
However there is no resting on their laurels, with a tough run of fixtures over the festive period - starting against Northampton on Saturday and followed by clashes against London Irish and London Welsh.
"Dick Best puts it well when he says you can go from back slapping to back stabbing in a heartbeat so it is vital you keep your eyes firmly on the job in head and for us that is a big game next up against Northampton," explained O'Shea.
"It looks really comfortable for us at the moment but we're only halfway through the season and have won nothing yet.
"No trophies are won in December, however you can certainly play yourself out of contention if you take your eye off the ball.
"We know you can have good days and you can have bad days but it's about making sure that you are in the mix come April/May time and that is where we want to be."
One of the keys to the club's success has been their ability to react to their bad days. Last season they followed up a home loss to Toulouse with a stunning win in France, while they avenged their defeats to Northampton and Leicester when it mattered the most - in the play-off semi-final and final. This season the club have learned from their setback in the last year's Heineken Cup to move to within a point for the last eight.
"It hurt us badly last season that we didn't do better in the Heineken Cup as it is a competition that we want to do well in," said O'Shea.
"The expectation is on us now, though, especially with the group we're in. We've had those two wins against Zebre where it was a no-win situation as you are damned if you do, damned if you don't. However, what we did was a professional job and that has put us in a strong position."
And a professional job is exactly what O'Shea has been doing in turning the club from also-rans to one of the country's leading teams.
Conor O'Shea was promoting the QBE Coaching Club; an initiative run between QBE and the RFU to recruit and train 2,015 new level two rugby coaches by 2015. For more information please visit www.QBErugby.com
