EUROPEAN CUP:IT'S UNLIKELY Munster will be affected by pre-match rhetoric so the verbal bouquets being tossed in their direction shouldn't prove too much of a distraction ahead of Sunday's Heineken Cup semi-final against Saracens at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

Shouldering the mantle of favouritism rarely seems an overly cumbersome burden for the Irish province so the expectation that accompanies their trip to England at the weekend is something with which they have dealt with admirably in the past.

Munster have earned their European reputation over the past decade but coach Declan Kidney won't be dwelling on that particular aspect of their history but rather reinforcing the need for his side to take nothing for granted when they meet Saracens. After all Munster have never placed too much store in the form book themselves.

It's difficult to believe the compliments, however genuine, emanating from the Saracens camp will turn Irish heads. The London club's captain, the former Springbok international Neil de Kock, is noted for his integrity as a person and player, so it's unlikely he was trying to play mind games when asked about Munster.

"I played Munster in the pre-season friendly and, although they were missing their World Cup players, the biggest thing is the physicality of the team, regardless of whether or not it's at full strength. They shocked us a bit in that department and it was that physicality which led them to the win and is the main area of the game we will need to focus on for Sunday. But just being in the Heineken semi-finals for the first time is a great position to be in, especially as we were not tipped to be there."

The last comment is something to which Saracens coach Alan Gaffney alluded to in interviews last week. He feared a certain satisfaction at the club in reaching this stage of the tournament, an attitude he contended that would prove fatal against the Irish side.

De Kock, however, maintained that Saracens are content to fulfil the role of underdog. "Munster have been there and done that but for us it's all new so we will be looking to the older guys to calm things down and bring their experience to the table in order to keep ourselves in check for the match.

"But having lost Andy Farrell and Chris Jack through injuries, we have had to work very hard to make up for their absences. They are players who have been on the world stage and everyone knows how valuable that experience is as well as their individual talents.

"Having said that, there are guys who have stepped up and taken on the challenge. Hugh Vyvyan in particular has been outstanding and, having been without these guys for the quarter-final, which nobody thought we would win, we are ready to face the semi-final without them as well."

The South African appears to believe that the "nobody rates us", perception outside Vicarage Road has been a significant clarion call ahead of a couple of big performances this season.

"I think our performance against Ospreys was definitely one of our best of the season. We went into that game having been written off by most people - and quite rightly so given our performance against them the previous week in the EDF semis.

"If we had played the same way in the Heineken semi-final, we would have got hammered and you have to respect the guys for coming out and putting in the performance on the day, as they did for the Biarritz Olympique game in the pool stages where I think we put in another great performance.

"And the way we played against Ospreys is where we want to be as a team. But we then took five steps backwards the following weekend against Gloucester, so it is our consistency rather than our ability to pull off one-off performances which worries us."

It's a point on which Munster's Kidney is likely to alight in the build-up to the match. Saracens have been capable of the once-off performance and last weekend's execrable display in defeat against Wasps simply reinforced the notion that while capable of highs, the low points are more common place of late.

De Kock is well aware that Saracens can't afford to take a backward step in the contact area on Sunday but it is his assertion that Gaffney's knowledge of his former charges at Munster that could be pivotal to the outcome.

As Gaffney has pointed out recently it's not a theory to which he subscribes and de Kock will know that come kick-off time next Sunday it is the Saracens' players that will be pivotal to the outcome. The scrumhalf concedes: "We still have to go out on the pitch and do the business."

There's no spin in that last statement.

Former England coach Andy Robinson continued his return to international rugby when he was named yesterday on Frank Hadden's coaching staff for Scotland's two-Test tour of Argentina in June.

Robinson has impressed as coach of Edinburgh since he was sacked as England head coach.