The British reporter asked for clarification.

“Is it awkward when you get asked about your coach? You’re all giggling as if you didn’t want to answer, or you thought it was a stupid question - not quite sure which one?”

“Stupid question,” Latu said. “To ask it, I don't know, it's different for you guys and different for us. For us, it comes across as a stupid question, so that's why we're all laughing.

“Obviously, you're asking us a question that we think is a complete joke, so if you're going to ask us questions like that, we'll take it as a joke and throw it back at you.”

When the reporter said he was just trying to get an understanding about what Cheika was like, Latu said: “To us, he's our head coach, of course he cares, he cares about each and every one of us. Simple as that.”

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Salakaia-Loto went into bat for Cheika, saying the coach was fiercely loyal and never threw his players under the bus despite underwhelming Wallabies performances that have seen the team win 23 of 51 Tests since the last World Cup.

“It takes [the heat] off us, he is putting himself out there to be shot,” Salakaia-Loto said. “He's protecting us as every good coach would do and [is] not going to let your players hang out to dry. We'd all do the same for each other.”

As the press conference wore on, Salakaia-Loto was asked directly by another reporter why he thought the Wallabies could beat England.

“Because we can, why not?” he said. “We all believe it, we're not just going to sit here and go, 'Oh, don't think we believe it,' of course we can. We all believe that we can do whatever we want to do, if we put our mind to it.”

There was a pause before Salakaia-Loto asked the reporter if he thought they could. It's safe to say the 23-year-old did not like the “I’m not sure” response he got.

“Really? That's your problem then. We believe we can beat them.”

Adam Coleman said the England-Australia rivalry was “pretty special” and was asked if he had a favourite sporting moment between the nations growing up.

“Nah, not specifically," he said.

The Wallabies have been perpetuating an us-against-them mentality throughout the World Cup and will want to hope their siege mentality can help them on the field.

Australia were last knocked out of the World Cup at the quarter-final stage in 2007.