Its a big night tonight (Friday) for NEC Harlequins star Tony Diprose.

The 29-year-old comes face-to-face with his old club Saracens at The Stoop.

It will be an emotional night for Diprose to play against the club he joined straight from school as a 17-year-old and where he spent 10 successful years.

During that time, Diprose played in more than 150 league games for Saracens, scoring 35 tries in the process.

His best moment there came in 1998 when he captained the side to Tetleys Bitter Cup success, leading Saracens to a 48-18 victory over London rivals Wasps in the final at Twickenham.

But after spending a decade with Saracens, Diprose felt the time was right for a change of clubs.

It was in April this year that Diprose announced he was leaving Saracens to join Quins.

He was the first of three players, along with Bill Davison and Dan Luger, to make the switch from Watford to the Stoop this summer.

"It is a big change when you move from a place you've grown up with, but I think it was a change that I needed, he said.

My game requires a new challenge as it had become a bit stale.

I want to try something different different coaches, different ideas.

Personal

The timing for it seemed to be right as things at Saracens hadn't been going as well as I'd like, both on a personal and team level.

I want to get back to enjoying my rugby, which I wasn't doing last year, and being part of a winning Quins team will help me achieve that.

Diprose made his debut in a Harlequins shirt in the 61-5 pre-season friendly victory over Bedford at Goldington Road on August 18.

Injury meant the number eight missed the Zurich Premiership clash with Newcastle Falcons on September 16, but this is the only game he has failed to appear in so far this season.

Diprose won 10 full international caps for England between May 1997 and July 1998.

Excellent

He made his first appearance in the 46-20 test victory over Argentina in Buenos Aires, capping an excellent performance by scoring a try.

Quins Nick Greenstock also made a try-scoring debut in the same game.

Following the tour of Argentina, Diprose went on to South Africa to join the British and Irish Lions squad and played in the 67-39 win over Northern Free State and a 57-22 win against the Emerging Springboks.

Essex-born Diprose studied at Loughborough University and has a degree in PE and Management.

He has also played in more than 30 games for England A and, over the 1995-96 season, captained the side to an unbeaten season 12 months after being voted RFU Young Player of the Year.