A restricted 50,000 Twickenham capacity crowd watched Quins stage a thrilling finale to draw 26-26 with Leicester.

Chief executive Mark Evans is confident the bar can be raised even higher following the soaraway success of Quins’ inaugural ‘Big Game’.

Had it not been for a reduced local rail service, Evans believes Quins would have sold upwards of 60,000 tickets - and next year he is targeting 82,000.

The 50,000 figure, meanwhile, is a new crowd-best for a single regular season Premiership fixture.

“We were capped at 50,000, which meant we sold out a week in advance,” said Evans.

“I wonder how many we would have got? We didn’t have a walk-up and we didn’t have last-week sales, which are usually in five figures.

“We have a three-year deal with the Rugby Football Union. ‘Big Game II’ will happen, ’Big Game III’ will happen, and we hope by then we will establish it as the big London Christmas sporting event.

“Let’s hope next year we can have a real go at ‘Big Game II’ and maybe fill Twickenham. I really think we can.”

England wing Ugo Monye’s last-gasp try - converted from the touchline by fly-half Nick Evans - completed a superb Quins fightback from 23-9 adrift, after Tigers claimed touchdowns through Tom Croft and Johne Murphy.