Michael Cheika has questioned the wisdom of Eddie Jones bringing the Australian rugby league legend Ricky Stuart into the England camp and behind enemy lines in the week of their World Cup quarter-final clash.

In a tense Australia press conference, the Wallabies head coach brushed off questions over his disastrous record against Jones, having lost the last six matches against his old Randwick teammate. There were also terse exchanges between his players and journalists, with Tolu Latu and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto bristling at questions about Cheika’s character.

With regards to Stuart’s presence in the England camp this week however, Cheika was more engaged. Stuart is well known to both Cheika and Jones and joins the England squad in Oita on Tuesday. He is a dual-code international, having played 11 times for the Australian rugby league side and three tour matches for the Wallabies and is currently the head coach of Canberra Raiders, who reached the NRL grand final earlier this month.

Jones has a history of bringing rugby league coaches into his camp and had another Australian, Andrew Johns, with his squad during England’s 3-0 series whitewash of the Wallabies in 2016. Cheika however, wondered how well Stuart’s presence, along with two other coaches from the Raiders, will go down among Jones’s players this week.

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To illustrate the point Cheika revealed he is friends with Gareth Southgate, having crossed paths with the England football head coach at a coaching conference in Minnesota. Cheika suggested however, that he would not want Southgate – who Jones has also invited to his side’s Bagshot base in the past – in the Wallabies camp before an England versus Australia quarter-final.

“Obviously they would be mates I imagine, so it’s all good. It’d be like – I’m friends with Gareth Southgate, I don’t know if I’d be wanting him in here the week that we’re playing England,” said Cheika. “It must be weird for the players having an Aussie because Ricky is a legend. He’s a dual international and a tough man. Had a great season with the Raiders this year. They played such good footy. It was a very tough grand final they played in. I’d say it might be a bit weird for them. He’s going there for learning stuff.

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“[Gareth] was a lovely chap, I really like his style. He’s a good man. For me it’s a different relationship [to mine with Eddie]. I know Gareth recently, it’s a different type of thing, I wouldn’t even be comparing the two.” Asked about his relationship with Jones, he added: “Fine. I don’t see him very much. Yeah fine, it’s all good.”

Cheika, meanwhile, dismissed the idea that England’s six-match winning streak against Australia – which started in that 2016 series – would have any bearing on Saturday’s fixture. “I think it’s irrelevant, really,” he said. “There are reasons, I’m not trying to avoid it, but why go back and talk about all those games? Looking backwards is only going to give you a sore neck. We’ve got opportunities this week and we’ve got to take them.

“Call me a sucker. I believe in my lads. I know there’s other people who won’t give us much of a chance but I believe that when you believe in yourself you are much closer to being able to create history. It’s just about being ready. We’ll be ready, there is no doubt about that. We’ll be precise in what we need to do and physically ready and we’ll be ready to get the job done.”

England meanwhile, arrived in Oita on Monday after spending the weekend back in Miyazaki – where they were based before the tournament started – following the cancellation of their Pool C decider with France. After a high-octane training session on Saturday the players had Sunday off but George Ford insisted England have now turned their attention to the “dangerous” Wallabies who dumped them out of their home World Cup four years ago.

“The thing with Australia is they can come up with plays out of nothing,” he said. “They are very dangerous players, particularly in the backline. They have got some big guys up front as well. You’ve got to be on your toes from minute one to minute 80 because they can strike from anywhere on the field.”