Saturday night’s crucial Super 14 derby between NSW and Queensland has taken on State of Origin intensity with barbs flying from both sides of the border and the Waratahs today refusing to publicise their team and snubbing a traditional pre-game function.

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NSW coach Ewen McKenzie was forced to explain his decision to release only a 23-man squad to travel to Brisbane - rather than name a starting XV and seven reserves - and also defend the Waratahs’ decision not to attend tomorrow’s annual interstate luncheon.

With the third-placed Waratahs needing to beat the Reds in the final-round fixture at Suncorp Stadium to ensure a semi-final berth, McKenzie said he had no choice but to delay announcing his line-up because he simply hadn’t finalised it.

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The Waratahs only arrived back from their demanding two-match tour of South Africa on Monday afternoon and today’s hitout at the SFS was just their second training session of the week.

“Being a short week for us, we’ll just maximise our training opportunities and work out our best team,” McKenzie said.

“I’ve got time.”

Of most interest to the Reds is whether NSW will start high-profile recruit Timana Tahu and, if so, exactly where.

The options are on the wing or opposite in-form ex-Waratah Morgan Turinui at outside centre, where the former rugby league international appeared in his cameo return from a hamstring injury against the Stormers in Cape Town last weekend.

While adamant there was nothing sinister in his selection approach this week, McKenzie was taking great delight in the fact his delay in naming the NSW team was causing such angst among the Reds.

“Morgan’s been ringing everyone. I think he’s rung most of our players to see what’s going on,” McKenzie said.

Asked if he thought the Reds were concerned about the uncertainty, McKenzie said: “I don’t know. I don’t know if they’re the worrying types”.

“I’m sure they’d like to know what our team is and I’m sure they’ll spend plenty of time trying to find out.

“But whether they do or don’t, we’ll see how it goes on the night.

“I know Morgan’s been on the phone a lot so, I guess if he’s not the worrying type, he’s worrying on someone else’s behalf.”

NSW winger Lote Tuqiri had fired the first salvo of the week on Tuesday when he branded the Reds a “cop-out” for declaring themselves the competition’s “spoilers” after falling out of playoff contention.

“Why not try a bit harder at the start of the year?” Tuqiri said.

Continuing the verbal warfare, the Reds hit back today, accusing the Waratahs of reneging on a deal to attend their annual luncheon tomorrow.

Queensland Rugby Union chief executive Ken Freer was incensed the Waratahs, with the exception of McKenzie and a couple of token injured players, snubbed the invitation to help promote the match.

The Reds attended a similar function, put on by the Rugby Union Players Association, in Sydney last season and Freer said the NSWRU agreed to return the favour this year.

“Talk about copping out and not fronting up,” Freer said.

McKenzie, though, said the Waratahs were not deliberately brushing the Reds, but merely had to train.

“We do our training and captain’s run in the afternoon. That’s when we normally do it, so it sort of clashes with the lunch,” he said.

“I’m going to go to the lunch and I’ll stand up there and ‘Buddha’ (Chris Handy) will ask an array of questions, so I’ll be the punching bag on behalf of the team and then we’ll go to training.

“One thing we’ve been this year is very consistent in our preparation and we don’t want to compromise that.”

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