Harlequins director of rugby Conor O’Shea is preparing to fight fire with fire when Munster descend on the Stoop for Sunday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final.

Despite suffering three successive defeats in the Aviva Premiership, and having never progressed further than the quarter-final stage, O’Shea is demanding his team are among Europe’s top four teams come Monday morning.

O’Shea has a fully fit camp from which to select his 23-man squad, and he has also boosted Quins’ morale by reiterating his commitment to the club in the face of speculation over the vacant Ireland coaching job.

Munster, who have won nine out of 13 quarter-final appearances since 1999, have endured their own blip going into Sunday’s clash, conceding more than 50 points at the RaboDirect Pro12 leaders Glasgow on Good Friday.

O’Shea said: “It is going to be a fabulous occasion at the Stoop. “Munster will play with passion, and we’ll have to meet fire with fire. But we need to play our own game and our own brand of rugby.

“Home advantage is huge and we have to make the most of it, but Munster have a lot of experience and they will bring plenty of support.

“This is our Champions League. We’re in Europe’s top eight at the moment and we want to be in the top four come Monday morning.

“These are the games all the players want to be involved in and there are only 23 players lucky enough to be in the squad.

“You suddenly see a very clean bill of health from all the players when these games come around.”

Munster are sweating on the return of fit-again Paul O’Connell, while Ronan O’Gara could line up for his 109th Heineken Cup appearance in the battle of the boot against Quins’ Nick Evans.