Harlequins dumped Leicester out of English rugby's domestic cup competition for the second successive season after a thrilling quarter-final clash at The Stoop.

Quins' Irish international fly-half Paul Burke booted two penalties during the final four minutes of normal time to send Leicester crashing.

The Tigers looked to have done enough when they led 20-16 approaching the closing moments, but Burke held his nerve magnificently in front of a capacity 9,000 crowd to strike the winning kick from almost 52 metres.

Leicester might be running away with the Zurich Premiership. But their hopes of a league and cup double are now over, while Quins can look forward to a semi-final date in early March.

Tigers boss Dean Richards made six changes from the team that suffered a shock Heineken Cup defeat against Llanelli last Saturday and started with England stars Martin Jonson and Neil Back among the replacements.

Both players appeared at the start of the second half but were unable to stop a series of unforced Leicester errors against a wonderfully committed Quins outfit who made a mockery of their Premiership form that shows five successive defeats.

Quins grabbed a narrow interval lead, two Burke penalties giving them a 6-3 advantage after a disappointing opening period.

But the game then burst into life as Quins targeted a repeat of last season when they ended Leicester's cup interest at the semi-final stage.

Tigers had been expected to win this Powergen Cup encounter comfortably and they scored their opening try on 51 minutes after Quins flanker Tu Tamarua had been sin-binned for a professional foul.

Superb approach work between backs and forwards ended with substitute hooker Richard Cockerill - who replaced the injured Dorian West 11 minutes before half-time - slipping a scoring pass to wing Ollie Smith.

Smith took advantage of a missed tackle by Quins' England centre Will Greenwood.

But Greenwood almost made amends immediately when he broke clear only to be pulled down just a metre from the Leicester line by Leon Lloyd.

Leicester centre Rod Kafer was yellow-carded for killing possession, and another Burke penalty brought Quins back to just 10-9 adrift before.

A spell of fierce pressure was rewarded when outstanding centre Nick Burrows claimed a 58th-minute try that Burke converted, setting up a thrilling final quarter.

Kafer turned from villain to hero when he grabbed Leicester's second try, converted by fly-half Andy Goode.

When Goode kicked his second penalty after Burrows was sin-binned for a high tackle on Geordan Murphy Leicester looked home and dry.

But they fatally allowed master kicker Burke two late chances which he took with the assurance of a world-class marksman.

Leicester missed out on domestic cup honours last season despite winning the Heineken Cup, Premiership title and Premiership play-off crown.

It hurt them then, and the pain will be just as severe this time around as history famously repeated itself.

Teams:

Harlequins: D. Slemen, Moore, Greenwood, Burrows, Jewell, Burke, Duncombe, Leonard, Fuga, Olver, Morgan, Davison, White-Cooper, Tamarua, Diprose.

Replacements: Bell for Greenwood (76), Roddam for Fuga (56), Starr for Olver (74).

Not Used: Rudzki, Alesbrook, Bemand, Gollings.

Tries: Burrows.

Cons: Burke.

Pens: Burke 5.

Sin Bin: Tamarua (44), Burrows (76).

Leicester: Murphy, Smith, Lloyd, Kafer, Tuilagi, Goode, J. Hamilton, Jelley, West, Nebbett, Deacon, Kay, Corry, Kronfeld, Balding.

Replacements: Booth for Tuilagi (74), Ellis for J. Hamilton (67), Cockerill for West (31), Garforth for Nebbett (67), M. Johnson for Deacon (41), Back for Balding (41).

Not Used: Gustard.

Tries: Smith, Kafer.

Cons: Goode 2.

Pens: Goode 2.

Sin Bin: Kafer (54).

Att: 8,900

Ref: Tony Spreadbury (RFU).