SARACENS skipper Neil de Kock believes his side's fearsome brand of full tilt rugby could topple star-studded Biarritz at the Parc des Sports Aguiléra tomorrow (Saturday).

The Men in Black make the journey across the English Channel for the Heineken Cup clash in electric form, having scored 33 tries from their first nine matches in all competitions.

Three successive bonus point victories, including Sunday's heart-stopping 33-31 Heineken humdinger against Glasgow have seen expectations at the club soar, and the general feeling amongst Fez Heads is that the team is now mentally and physically equipped to live up to them.

And de Kock, who put in his usual classy shift on his Heineken Cup debut says a similar, yet preferably more comfortable result against the Top 14 outfit would send shockwaves throughout Europe.

"It's a massive game, a massive test and the players have been talking about it all week," said the mild-mannered Springbok. "We're not just going to Biarritz to be competitive - we're going over there to win. They are a world class outfit but are at an early stage in their season.

"You never know what to expect from French teams and Biarritz could hit form at any time. If they play an absolute blinder we've got to be prepared for that and be at our very best.

"It would be massive to beat them over there and would be huge for the club. It doesn't just happen but with the kind of rugby we are playing there is no reason why we can't go and do it."

If resurgent Sarries are to take the spoils in the south-west commune they must plug the gaps in their leaky defence. Of the 22 tries they have conceded this season around half have arrived in the final 20 minutes of matches.

Cause for concern? Yes and no. The Men in Black's offensive prowess is no longer a well-kept secret and they have the ability to outscore most teams, but their penchant for late self-implosion could cost them.

"Once we've got our foot on the throat we've got to keep it there," added the scrum-half. "There is nothing wrong with our structures, it's individual errors and little things we need to get out of our game.

"We were delighted to come away with five points against Glasgow as we knew it was always going to be a tough game. In the three times we played against them last season they proved to be a side that never lies down. They made us work hard at the end and we were disappointed with our lack of defence at that stage of the game. There was maybe a bit of nervous tension floating around but if you want to win competitions and compete against the very best you have to iron out these problems.

"I suppose it's indicative of a team that wants to do well in that we've come away with five points yet all the boys were so disappointed at the end. That bodes well for the club going forward."

The Biarritz squad reads like a who's who of French rugby - Serge Betsen, Benoît August, Dimitri Yachvili and Damien Traille to name a few, and de Kock knows any points gained against the 2006 runners up will keep their qualification hopes on track.

"There is no cause for alarm at this stage but the one thing we don't want to end up doing is chasing the competition," he said. "We continue to play positive, attacking rugby but you are going to come up against teams who will ask serious questions of your defence, so we have to improve that side of our game. We had the second best defensive record in the Premiership last season and we've got to get up to those same standards."

Director of rugby Alan Gaffney has made just three changes to the side that beat Glasgow. Kevin Yates, at fault for Hefin O'Hare's try drops out of the 22 with Nick Lloyd preferred at loose-head prop, Tom Ryder comes into the second row alongside Hugh Vyvyan while Kris Chesney moves to blind-side flanker in place of the benched Paul Gustard. The only other change sees Richard Haughton come in at full-back for Francisco Leonelli, who pulled up in training yesterday (Thursday). Adam Powell, Cobus Visagie and Andy Kyriacou are on stand by and will also jet out with the squad on Friday morning.

Saracens: Haughton, Penney, Sorrell, Farrell, Ratuvou, Jackson, De Kock (cpt); Lloyd, Cairns, Johnston, Ryder, Vyvyan, Chesney, Hill, Skirving. Replacements: Ongaro, Mercey, Gustard, Seymour, Rauluni, Ross, Thrower.