Aviva Premiership final 2012: Dan Cole keen to earn his redemption after a tough lessons in a long, hard slog Much as there has been made of the devil and wit of both sides" attacking play, the game will be shaped by events up front. Leicester have always been that way, Harlequins have come to recognise that and are well equipped to compete in that regard. There is little danger of Leicester breezing into Twickenham with an air of entitlement, sitting tenants though they may be. This is their eighth final in succession but Cole is quick to point out that it has been a slog to get here this year. He, like many others, was at the World Cup when Leicester lost match after match and found themselves 11th in the Premiership. There was nothing straightforward about Leicester's upturn, albeit the returning Test players did make a difference. Even so, there was much soul-searching to be done after losing 11-19 at Exeter and that 41-7 defeat to Ulster at Ravenhill. "That was a dark night," recalls Cole, whose misery was compounded by being shown the yellow card just after coming on. It was for a bit of backchat. Pretty pathetic on my part, not even a decent reason for getting sin-binned. I just appealed for a decision after [Tom] Crofty got dump-tackled. I wasn't even offensive. But Monsieur Poite was right. No talking-back. This is not football. Off I went. I've learnt my lesson. I think the club did as well that night. It's not often Leicester get humped. But we were at Ravenhill. You realise a bit about sporting mortality on nights like that. Hard work can go to waste pretty quickly. You've got to keep grafting. That loss, and the manner of it in particular, might just have been the kick up the backside we needed. A club like ours doesn't want to be out of Europe but the Premiership become our prime focus. Leicester have won their last nine games in the league, 11 in all competitions. They are in form, and beat Harlequins 43-33 last month at the Stoop in what Quins director of rugby, Conor O'Shea described as "one of the games of the season." Cole is well aware of the threat posed, pinpointing the improvement in Harlequins" forward play as the key reason for their success. "They've got their set-piece sorted out," said Cole, who is relishing the prospect of his tussle with loosehead Joe Marler, on Saturday. They've not only got stability there, they're able to exert pressure through their forwards. It'll be a contest, all right. And that is just how Cole likes it; nothing assumed, everything earned.