Steffon Armitage is determined to take a giant step towards removing his name from the list of England 'one-cap wonders' by helping London Irish reach the Guinness Premiership final on Saturday.

The 23-year-old was dropped after his debut against Italy in February and was unable to oust his replacement, Joe Worsley, who made such an impact he has been picked for the Lions tour to South Africa this summer.

Armitage knows his fledgling England career can only be restarted with more eye-catching displays at club level and the semi-final against Harlequins at the Stoop offers him a glorious chance to impress the national selectors. Armitage is in direct opposition to Will Skinner, the outstanding Quins captain and openside flanker, and he must also try to shackle Danny Care, the livewire England scrum-half who has his eyes on a late call up to the Lions squad.

The London Irish player said: "My attitude is: 'Bring it on'. I can't wait for the match. I am pleased with the way I have reacted after playing for England and I am moving along nicely.

"The Italy game was very quick , a massive step up from the Premiership, and I was a bit nervous but now I really want another chance to play for England.

"My confidence is still high and while missing out after Italy was hard to take, to get into the national team you have to play well for your club and that's my focus. The No7's role is to get on the ball as quickly as possible but Will and I are very different players and I prefer to look at the opposition as a whole rather than individual threats.

"I also have to worry about what the No9 and No10 are doing and I am fully aware of the danger posed by Danny at scrum-half. He likes to break close to the ruck and we have sorted out that area."

Starting in late January, Irish went five League games without a win and although they have recovered from that slump, Armitage says the team feel they can match the heights of their early-season displays.

He said: "There is a lot of talk about the semi-final and we just want to prove to everyone we can recapture our top form. We owe it to our fans to make it one of our best displays of the season."

Steffon and brother Delon have key roles to play in the semi-final and, with England facing the Barbarians at Twickenham and then two Tests with Argentina in the summer, they could end up alongside each other at international level again.

Delon, who played in all of England's Six Nations matches, is a certainty while his younger brother is up against a host of back-row talent including Wasps pair Tom Rees and Skinner.

Steffon added: "This match is a great opportunity for me to remind everyone about what I can do as a No7."

Meanwhile, Wales centre Tom Shanklin last night became the latest player to give Lions head coach Ian McGeechan a major problem after he dislocated a shoulder in Cardiff's 26-12 Magners League victory over the Dragons.