WARATAHS captain Phil Waugh has launched a blistering response to an attack on NSW five-eighth Kurtley Beale and fired off his own barb against the critic - Chris Latham - on the eve of tonight's must-win derby against Queensland at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

In his weekly in column in Brisbane's Courier Mail, Latham, a 78-cap Wallaby, wrote that he did not rate Beale. The Reds fullback, who will miss tonight's clash because of a shoulder injury, then added that Beale's opposite tonight, Quade Cooper, who is also in only his second season, was a "far better" player.

"As good as Kurtley Beale may be for NSW with certain skills, I find it hard to rate a player when teammates are being asked to do his work in the front line of defence," Latham wrote.

"If you are going to rate someone, you've got to fulfil all roles of your position. He is sometimes moved to the blind wing or fullback and another player brought infield to fill the defensive line where the No.10 should be."

Latham said his remarks were not a "slight" on Beale, adding that he was "talented". But he said Cooper had "a far better all-round game - better in attack and taking his place in the front line of defence".

Waugh, who went to great lengths to praise Beale for his development as a player and as an adult after NSW's 13-13 draw with the Stormers in Cape Town last weekend, did not hold back.

"I am happy for them to come down Kurtley's channel if they want to," Waugh said yesterday.

"I have said it all year [that] the way he has grown and matured over the last 12 months is quite incredible, really. And I think a part of that has been his confidence, and his confidence in defence."

Waugh did not hesitate to criticise Latham for his attack, despite their being Wallabies teammates.

"If the guys have to come out and slag him about being a poor defender, a poor tackler, it is a little bit disappointing, particularly when I don't know how much knowledge they have got of his game and how he performs," he said. "It is disappointing for someone to put their name to an article written like that."

Waugh was not giving anything more away, other than to say that the Waratahs had worked on identifying the Queenslanders' weaknesses and how to exploit them.

And he was not willing to share what the team thought those weaknesses were.

"Every time you play a team, every team you come up against, you identify areas that you want to attack," he said. "And we have identified areas in Queensland's game that we want to attack."

The Waratahs are still wary of the Reds, despite their 11th place on the competition ladder and the absence of back-rowers Hugh McMeniman and John Roe and prop Greg Holmes due to injury tonight.

The third-placed Waratahs must win to secure their place in next week's semi-finals, and have taken note of the Reds' renewed fighting spirit and improved game in recent weeks, despite their lack of wins.

"No matter where we sit, if you look at the calendar at the start of the year and are coming to Queensland in the last round, this is a danger game … probably the biggest danger," Waugh said

Waratahs No.6 Rocky Elsom, who did not want to comment on his ongoing contractual negotiations with the Australian Rugby Union, is not underestimating the potential threat of a firebrand Reds outfit.

He has not forgotten 2004, when the Waratahs needed to beat an unfancied Queensland in their last-round match in Brisbane to make the finals - and lost 23-7 to miss the top four and finish eighth.

"We really needed that win and they smashed us up there," Elsom said. "It is very similar circumstances.

"But we don't need any more reason to beat Queensland than that we just like winning, and particularly beating them."

However, Elsom did admit that playing the Reds at Suncorp Stadium was a lot tougher than facing them in Sydney.

"At the Sydney Football Stadium, it would be a lot more heavily tilted in our favour," he said. "They are [also] a lot stronger than anyone expected. It is always a danger to play a team on that sort of form."