Having witnessed his team's 14th consecutive win of the season, Conor O'Shea, the Harlequins director of rugby, showed off the esprit de corps that has taken them so far by launching a fierce defence of the absent Nick Easter. The Harlequins and England No8 has been outed as the man most likely to have made the infamous "£35,000" comment in the England changing room following the quarter-final defeat to France at the World Cup.

"I'm sick to death of comments being taken completely out of context," O'Shea said. "Things that are said in a dressing room should never be heard outside. If he did say it, it would have been a throwaway comment to try to effect a bit of a mood change in what would have been a sombre place. Nick is a guy who has travelled the world. He plays rugby to be with his mates. Since the World Cup, he has been absolutely phenomenal at No8 for us."

Easter had refused to confirm or deny that he was the author of "There's £35k just gone down the toilet", part of the leaked England review. "I don't specifically remember saying it but it's possible I did – especially if a number of players have said so. It is the kind of facetious thing I say and people who know me know this.

"I find it very disappointing that a player should make a point of bringing this up in the review, and equally disappointing that it was leaked. I can't understand whoever reported this would believe this was part of my motivation. The remark, assuming I said it, has been taken out of context by the player, and subsequently, by the response to it."

All the more impressive, then, that Quins should have unpicked a fired-up Wasps side so precisely without him in their scrum. The man who stood in there was Chris Robshaw, and yet again the Quins captain was all things to all men. His selection for the first fixture of the Six Nations is surely a formality, if he's fit.

And fitness is one of his strongest suits. "When he's in your team, you realise what he does," said O'Shea. "The more you analyse how he plays, the more you go, 'Oh my God, it's him again'. You can't get over the work he gets through."

He had a light hand in all three of Quins' tries, dazzling flashes of dexterity in what were scores of the highest class. The counterattack in the 57th minute, sparked by Nick Evans and continued by six more pairs of hands, culminated in what will no doubt be one of the tries of the season, Quins' third, scored by another brilliant – and English – performer in their back row, the young Luke Wallace. Another contender will be Quins' second, finished by Mike Brown, featuring two brilliant passes, the first by Robshaw, the second by Matt Hopper.

Harlequins were ruthlessly precise and, after an early try by Hopper, those two brilliant strikes took them out to 22-6 by the end of the third quarter. Wasps responded with two fine tries themselves in the last 20 minutes by Hugo Southwell and Tom Varndell, the first while Hopper was in the sin-bin, but an unhappy weekend that had begun with the loss to retirement of Steve Thompson ended with the ignominy of a home defeat to bitter rivals. Quins are now nine points clear at the top, and the unbeaten run continues.

Wasps Southwell; Varndell, Waldouck, Flutey, Wade; Robinson, Simpson; Payne (Taulafo, 58), Webber (Lindsay, 68), Broster (Castex, 68), O'Donoghue, Wentzel, Birkett (Jones, 59), Everard, Hart (capt).

Tries Southwell, Varndell Pens Robinson 2

Harlequins Brown; Stegmann, Hopper (Urdapilleta, 76), Casson, Smith (Monye, 46); Evans, Care; Marler (Lambert, 70), Gray (Brooker, 58), Johnston, Vallejos, Matthews, Fa'asavalu (Skinner 58), Wallace, Robshaw (capt).

Tries Hopper, Brown, Wallace Cons Evans 2 Pen Evans

Referee D Richards (Berkshire). Attendance 6,792.