Nick Evans, the All Blacks outside-half who will spearhead Harlequins in their quest for Heineken Cup success against Stade Francais in Paris on Saturday, today hit back at claims he was blocking English talent from gaining vital big-match experience.

Graham Henry, the New Zealand coach, believes the influx of players from the southern hemisphere into the Guinness Premiership will have serious consequences in terms of England's international side.

However, Evans, who turned his back on the All Blacks to take up a lucrative contract with Quins, defends his right to be here and was keen to point out a serious flaw in Henry's argument.

"It wasn't so long ago that Graham Henry was coaching Wales," he said. "I disagree with him. When I come to training at Quins, I am working with guys who are 22 or under and they are learning more things every day, and the same is true for me.

"It's great when they ask questions and take the knowledge that I have and begin to use it in their own games.

"Of course there are two sides to the story, and some people will like it and others clearly won't, but you can't please everyone in this world. I really don't see a problem."

Henry's comments were fuelled by considerable angst in New Zealand, where present international players are opting to make money in Europe, not only stars whose careers are on the wane.

For example, Dan Carter, the incumbent All Blacks No10, is about to start a short-term contract with Perpignan, prop Carl Hayman is at Newcastle, scrum-half Bryon Kelleher plays for Toulouse, Luke McAlister is masterminding Sale's attack and lock Chris Jack is with Saracens.

New Zealand rugby is finding it impossible to match the financial carrots being dangled in front of their best and brightest and Evans is an example of their impotency.

Still only 28, he would have been the back-up outside-half to Carter had he remained at home but the Quins offer was too good to ignore.

Besides the money, there is also the opportunity to take part in alternative competitions rather than the annual programme of Tri-Nations matches, Super 14 and National Provincial Cup rugby back home.

Evans is relishing the chance to take on Stade, one of the most powerful club teams in the world, who feature key French internationals and a number of overseas stars such as Juan-Martin Hernandez and Rodrigo Ronchero, of Argentina, Scotland No8 Simon Taylor, the Italian trio of Mauro and Mirca Bergamasco and Sergio Parisee.

"I'm expecting this to be like a Test match on Saturday because of the quality of team we are playing, the atmosphere being created and the size of stadium," said Evans.

"This will be as close as we get as a club to experiencing a Test-class arena and I am really looking forward to the challenge and something that we can build upon.

"We have talked this week about trying to focus solely on ourselves and make sure we enjoy the occasion because games like this don't come along very often. I played there for New Zealand and came off the bench against France."

Dean Richards, the director of rugby, identified Evans as the key man he wanted to add to his squad last summer and Quins travel to Paris with two Heineken Cup wins already under their belts.

Richards said; "The beauty of this is that we have another bite of the cherry the following week against Stade at home.

"A lot of our boys haven't played at an arena like this when it's full. The double-header at Twickenham at the start of the season sees crowds of around 40,000, not nearly 80,000 as is predicted on Saturday.

"Stade are giving out 20,000 flags and planning all kinds of things as part of the pre-match entertainment, including jousting. The only concern is that we will get drawn into all of that but our guys have discussed what is going to be happening."

Meanwhile, Quins have strengthened their New Zealand element by adding former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick to their board as an non-executive member.