NSW are prepared to lay their Super Rugby season on the line this Saturday night, in a must-win derby clash against Queensland at Suncorp Stadium.

The Reds are cruising at the top of the Australian Conference and Waratahs stand-in captain Dean Mumm concedes his team's finals hopes could come down to this match.

There's still nine rounds remaining, but on 27 competition points, the Waratahs are currently outside wildcard calculations for the playoffs, and must urgently close the gap on the high-flying Reds if they're to give themselves a chance.

On the back of a disappointing 31-17 loss to the Blues at Eden Park on Saturday night, Mumm says the Reds match shapes as the biggest of the Waratahs season.

"I think so, you'd have to say it's certainly very important for us," Mumm told AAP.

"If we do go down in this it certainly makes it very hard going forward in the competition and the Reds become even further ahead in terms of that conference system.

"As it stands at the moment the Reds are in a semi final and certainly for us to be guaranteed we've got to be ahead of them, so it does simplify it."

The Waratahs leaked five tries in the first half of their loss to the Blues, in a flimsy defensive effort.

But it was their defence back in round 2 which secured them their biggest ever victory over the Reds - a 30-6 smashing at ANZ Stadium.

At the time the Waratahs looked indestructible, and although a lot's changed since then, Mumm said NSW will tackle the Reds with confidence.

"It really wasn't that far away, it was only six or so weeks ago but a lot has changed," Mumm said of a Queensland side (35 competition points) who have swept past South African powerhouses the Stormers and Bulls in recent weeks.

"The Reds certainly have an abundance of momentum coming in ... so they'll be very confident but I think also we've got to take a fair bit of confidence into it knowing we have performed against the Reds on the last occasionwe were up against them."

Mumm says shutting down Queensland playmakers Will Genia and Quade Cooper will be the key, but finding consistency is the Tahs real challenge.

"Obviously we've got plenty to work on. First couple of rounds we played consistently well and we've had our challenges over the past couple of weeks and certainly reaching that consistency has been a struggle for us," he said.

"The nature of the competition means you can't dwell on what's happened the week before, and the Reds are playing so well that we've got to try and get our heads around them as soon as possible."

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