When Mike Catt surveys the landscape of English rugby and the glut of talent in the Guinness Premiership - not least Shane Geraghty, among others, at his own club, London Irish - it is difficult for him to suppress a smile.

He believes that it is as good as he has seen and Catt, who was appointed player-coach of London Irish last summer, wants to play a part in the further development of what he calls the golden generation, for the club initially, to whom he acknowledges a debt of thanks for rescuing his career four years ago, and perhaps thereafter England, although he says that he has not had an approach from anyone, let alone Martin Johnson, the team manager in waiting.

Catt would appear to be ideally suited to such a role, but his immediate focus is on today's Heineken Cup quarter-final against Perpignan at the Madejski Stadium in Reading and a chance to make more history.

Reaching the last eight is a first in itself for London Irish, but Catt, in what could be his last year as a player, is urging the team to aim high. Rather than be pretenders, he believes that it is time they were taken seriously and now is a good an opportunity to show why. “The Geraghtys, [Topsy] Ojos and Armitages [Delon and Steffon] have matured nicely,” he said. “We've had a couple of years' Heineken Cup experience. Now we need to push on for these young guys to step up to that next level and reach a semi-final or a final.”

The reason Catt is playing at the age of 36 is testament to his durability and his enjoyment of the positive environment created by Brian Smith, the London Irish director of rugby, and Toby Booth, the forwards coach. “That's the main reason I've kept on going,” Catt said. “But I've got to make a decision over the next couple of weeks as to what I do. There are still another four or five more games of the season to go and there's a chance we could qualify for Europe next year through the league.”

He is a veteran of such occasions as this afternoon, whereas many around him are not. His calming influence will be vital against Perpignan, who since the teams shared the honours in two highly-charged pool matches in December - in the first of which Kieran Roche suffered a fractured eye socket - have run into form. They have had five wins and a draw in their past six French Top 14 games. In contrast, London Irish have lost three of their past four matches and got back on track against Bristol only last weekend. Now they have Geraghty, Peter Richards and Delon Armitage fit again, although all three start on the bench.

“Physically, they [Perpignan] are one of the biggest sides I have ever played against,” Catt, who cautioned against retaliation today, said. “But that can cause problems as well, being as big as they are. We need to run those big lads around a bit. We've played some really good rugby in the last few weeks it's now a question of being able to do it in the pressure of a quarter-final.”