Having eased into the Premierships top three following four early season league wins, Saracens look well-placed to mount a significant European challenge.

Biarritz, the 2006 European Cup runners-up, are favourites to win Pool Four ahead of Saracens, Glasgow and Italian minnows Viadana.

But with two teams probably qualifying from the group, Saracens know a quarter-final place realistically represents a minimum target.

Skipper Neil de Kock said: They will be massive games against Biarritz.

It is my first season in the European Cup and I really do not know what to expect from them, but all the talk says they are one of the toughest teams in the competition.

Saracens and Glasgow - Sundays visitors to Vicarage Road - met three times in the second-tier European Challenge Cup last term, with the Premiership club recording two wins and drawing one.

It is an unbeaten sequence de Kock and company cannot afford to disrupt.

He added: We have had a decent start to the season, and we really want to keep that going.

We are trying to work on our consistency and the guys have really stepped up, working on their skills and working on keeping the ball.

Former England flanker Richard Hill is among a handful of players restored to the Saracens line-up while Glasgow include summer signings Daryl Gibson and Bernardo Stortoni.