Andy Farrell has heard it all before from Eddie Jones. As Ireland prepare to meet Japan in Newcastle, a rare Nations Championship staging on English soil, the two coaches have picked up a familiar routine, and Farrell is not biting.
Jones, who worked alongside Farrell at Saracens years ago, floated the idea that his Japan pack would get on top of Ireland up front. Farrell's reply was a knowing smile.
"I have loads of respect for Eddie. We go back a long way, and I know what he's trying to do," Farrell said. "There's always something, and it's great for you guys to throw the questions back over here. It's just a bit of banter thrown back, I would have thought, from my end."
The respect is real; so is the threat. Japan pushed Italy hard a week ago, and Farrell is treating this as anything but a gimme.
"For anyone who's seen their games, they are a team that's bang in form," Farrell said. "I thought Japan dominated the game from start to finish last week, so the confidence that they're going to bring over to Newcastle here is going to be the test that we're after."
He has still rung the changes, nine to his starting side from the narrow loss to Australia, with two positional switches on top. Tadhg Beirne captains Ireland from the start for the first time; Dan Sheehan is rested. Only six players keep their places. Most striking is the promotion of four uncapped players, with Connacht No. 8 Sean Jansen set to start and props Billy Bohan and Sam Illo plus Ulster flanker Bryn Ward in line to debut off the bench.
For Farrell, blooding four at once is the point of the exercise, not a risk to be managed.
"Really excited about this one for all sorts of reasons," he said. "Obviously, it's always a special occasion when you give one person a debut, never mind four. I'm looking forward to how they apply themselves to attacking the game first and foremost, because that's the roles they're able to add to the team. But also making sure that the rest of the team are there to support them for it to be a special day for them."
Jones, for his part, is guarding his own project, a young No. 10 in Ryunosuke Ito who he is determined to protect.
"He's a young 10, he's going to have his ups and downs but we've got a team that's going to support him," Jones said. "Those guys will help look after him and we just want him to be himself."
He is also wary of the step up in class from Italy to Ireland.
"Ireland are a different opposition, they present different threats," Jones said. "They're a much more possession-based team than Italy were, so we've worked a lot on our defensive quality."
The subtext is a scrum contest both coaches have talked up. Jones suggested his forwards would dominate; Farrell expects the opposite, and made clear the pre-match sparring will not distract a side chasing a response after letting a win slip against the Wallabies. Kick-off in Newcastle pits an experimental Ireland against a Japan team that senses a scalp, and two coaches who know each other far too well to take a word at face value.
