But if you'd been at the Walkabout in Manchester on Sunday afternoon, that's exactly what you would have seen: Shaun Johnson, Jason Nightingale and Lewis Brown watching the Kiwis' Four Nations campaign go on the line when Australia met England.

"The hotel we're in didn't have BBC Sport," said Manly's Brown. (Is there a hotel room with a TV in the UK that doesn't have BBC one, which showed the game?)

"And a few other boys weren't keen to watch it. It was a nervous wait"

With their team-mates uninterested in watching a match that would determine if they were to go home immediately, the halfback, winger and utility walked around town until they found the local branch of the Uluru-emblazoned chain.

He said: "We were sipping sparkling waters too. No alcoholic beverages were taken. Manchester's obviously a soccer area so I'm pretty sure they just thought we were mad Australian fans."

Asked if the trio was actively barracking for their opponents at Anfield this Sunday, Brown said: "Just quietly hoping. It probably wasn't the ideal place to watch it."

Brown, speaking during a media conference call, said the squad had been affected by news of devastating earthquakes in the south island of their homeland.

"There's a few of us where it's a bit close to home.," he said. "I've got family in Christchurch and I spoke to them.

"It's not pleasant seeing stuff like that in your own backyard. The city's been through a lot and I just want it to give them a break. You wonder when it's going to stop.

"The boys, there's a few of them who are from Wellington … their families got evacuated and stuff like that, or their friends got evacuated."

Brown described the historic draw with Scotland on Friday as "humbling", admitted the Kiwis "energy has been a bit down" but added "if we get an equal share of possession, I'd back us any day of the week".

"It's playing the brand of footy that we like – that's the ad lib, offload," he said. "We've got some forwards who can move the ball and I'm pretty sure that this week, they'll be looking at doing that.

'We probably haven't started games that well. Against England and Australia we were chasing our tail and again, against Scotland."