In round two of the Australian mind-game derby, Brumbies coach White didn't hold back on Tuesday when asked his thoughts on the Waratahs' preparation for the round-four Super Rugby match.

It came three weeks after White accused Queensland Reds mentor Ewen McKenzie of playing mind games with the young Brumbies by delaying the naming of his team.

Now White's attention has turned to ''Waratah Week'' and with NSW securing its first win of the season last weekend, the South African World Cup-winner said the Brumbies had to be desperate for victory.

Cheika is trying to lead a revival in Sydney after a dismal campaign last year.

''It's going to be up to us to fight against the odds and go down there and try and cause some trouble,'' Cheika said.

But White refused to let the Brumbies get sucked into favouritism. ''It sounds like an ambush because it is an ambush,'' White said.

''Sometimes you see what you can see and I've never heard of a Waratahs team coming to the Brumbies and saying they're underdogs. When you've got X amount of Wallabies like they have and they're saying they're the underdogs … this time last year we had no hope in hell of beating them and it's the same group of players.

''What's changed? I've got no doubt they'll want to be fired up … he [Cheika] will try whatever he can and say whatever he can to bring the best out of that group. We've just got to match it … and be as desperate as they are to do well.''

The Brumbies are aiming to start their season with a hat-trick of wins after beating the Reds and Melbourne Rebels before their bye last weekend. The Brumbies haven't won three games in a row to start a campaign since 2005 and have only achieved the feat four times.

A victory against the Waratahs will position them perfectly as they prepare for a two-game trip to South Africa to play the Durban Sharks and Cape Town Stormers.

But while the Waratahs haven't been at their best in their first two games, White and the Brumbies are wary of falling to their arch rivals.

The Brumbies lost just two of their 11 matches against the Waratahs in Canberra.

They won both contests last season as the Waratahs struggled near the bottom of the table.

But although the Waratahs boast a host of Test stars - including Adam Ashley-Cooper, Tatafu Polota-Nau and Benn Robinson - Brumbies skipper Ben Mowen said his team was better equipped to deal with the NSW-ACT rivalry this year.

''Last year was about enthusiasm, but we weren't as specific as we probably needed to be,'' Mowen said. ''We're in a much better space than we were and that's shown the maturity of this group.

''We know the right balance so we know where we need to be in games so we're not over enthusiastic early on. The difference this year is there's a calm in those [pressure] moments.''