Harlequins are looking ahead to build a brighter future according to Marcus Smith after he inspired a stunning 49-17 dismantling of Wasps at the Ricoh Arena.

The 21-year-old No.10 orchestrated proceedings as Quins ran in six tries to earn their biggest win of the season, maintaining an impressive away record in the Premiership this campaign.

The sensational victory was just the tonic for Billy Millard’s side after a turbulent few weeks following Paul Gustard’s departure as head of rugby, and Smith believes the togetherness in the squad can push Quins forward over the coming weeks and months.

“The leaders in the camp - the likes of Joe Marler and Danny Care - spoke earlier in the week about getting together and backing each other in the game,” Smith said. “We celebrated every single moment together out there.

“We knew there were going to be issues and mistakes in the game, but we knew we had to keep working hard.

“At half-time we got a rocketing from Billy [Millard], who told us to put them to the sword, and keep going.

“Consistency has been a big issue for us for a couple of years. But we're trying to address that, we've got great leaders in the group, great coaches and hopefully we can continue improving going forwards.”

Will Evans and Danny Care got Quins off to a quick start as the visitors took a 20-3 lead at the break, boosted by tries from Alex Dombrandt and Louis Lynagh.

Wasps fought back in the second half but a James Lang score and a penalty try helped the away side ease away to cap a hugely positive first game in charge for Millard.

Quins moved level on points with Wasps but remain in sixth in the table, one point off of the top four, and attack and backs coach Nick Evans was full of praise for the all-round dominance on display.

“I couldn’t ask for any more from the players in terms of efforts,” Evans added. “That’s on both sides of the ball, we’re really happy.

“We had a good week, I thought the senior players led really well on the field.

“I thought, physically, on both sides of the ball especially in attack early on but defensively throughout the whole game we were brilliant.

“The fundamentals around defence and our kicking game worked really well. Our attack was, at times, brilliant. It’s really pleasing to get a result like that.”