Andy Farrell has crossed swords with Eddie Jones on umpteen occasions in the latter’s extensive coaching career. He is wise to the Australian’s pre-match mind games. Jones claims he expects his Japanese pack to dominate the Irish scrum in Saturday’s Nations Championship game in Newcastle, Australia (kick-off 8.10pm local time/11.10am Irish), especially in the second half. Farrell offered a cryptic retort. “In the first and second half especially, we expect to dominate in all areas of the game,” said the Ireland head coach, tongue firmly in cheek. Jones’s comment was on foot of Farrell picking the uncapped Connacht props Billy Bohan and Sam Illo on the Irish bench, and no doubt was aimed primarily at Saturday’s referee Andrea Piardi. Ironically, he was speaking in the context of granting a prospective second cap to 21-year-old loosehead replacement prop Sojiro Otsuka after his debut off the bench in last week’s 27-10 win over Italy. “He’s 21 going on 41; he’s a very mature player. We’ve got great confidence in the young boy,” said Jones, adding: “And particularly in the second half, we expect to dominate the Irish scrum.”But Farrell had no issues with Jones upping the ante ahead of the game, which will be Jones’s first after serving a four-match ban imposed by the Japan RFU for abusing match officials on a tour of Australia earlier this year.“I have loads of respect for Eddie,” said Farrell. “We go back a long way and I know what he’s trying to do. 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 from my end.”Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has laughed off remarks from Japan counterpart Eddie Jones in the lead-up to Saturday's match in Newcastle, Australia. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho He is palpably excited about the four debutants in the Irish match-day squad, as well as Tadhg Beirne captaining Ireland for the first time and Rónan Kelleher reaching a half-century of caps. But as much as this game affords several individuals opportunities and landmarks galore, collectively Ireland played a get-out-of-jail card in their 33-31 win over the Wallabies in Sydney last Saturday after a defensively porous first-half especially.“It’s something that we’ve addressed all week,” said Farrell. “There’s obviously growth there; 31 missed tackles is not what we want, but I mean, first thing to say is, hats off to the opposition.“I thought they were physical. I thought they were the attacking threat that they always are. They’re as tough a side to handle as anyone within world rugby, with the personnel that they’ve got and obviously the coach (Joe Schmidt) and the athleticism that they have and the brand of rugby that they want to play. They’re always going to cause that threat.“We always see that with Southern Hemisphere sides. But that’s not to say it’s right that we miss those tackles, so a bit of lack-of-intent in some of our collision work has obviously been addressed and tidying up a few bits of our system stuff along the way as well.“It’s a big focus for us because Japan are an all-in-15 attacking side where everyone’s involved. They’re not just one-off runners. So, they’re going to pose a threat.”Ireland's Jeremy Loughman with Tadhg Beirne during training in Sydney on Tuesday. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho As to whether this recurring issue at the start of Test windows might be partially the consequences of Leinster’s blitz defensive system, Farrell said: “It is what it is. We can’t use that as an excuse. If you leave an excuse out there, people will take it subconsciously, and we don’t do that.“It’s up to us to coach them in the right way. It’s up to the players to adapt as quickly as they possibly can. I’m sure there’s a few things that’s homed in on them, and it’s not just defensively; it’s in all areas of the game.“We’re as joined up as any other nation, but every province plays a little bit differently, so there’s always that across the board. Leinster from that, week-on-week, has to be the priority, and yeah, there’s a bit to learn from last week.”Jeremy Loughman (concussion) and Robert Baloucoune, who was a late withdrawal against Australia due to a tight hamstring, should both be fit for Saturday week’s game against New Zealand in Auckland.“Jeremy Loughman is out for the 12 days but he’ll be fit and he’s fine and going through all of that. He’s back up and running again. And so is Rob. We just thought it would be a little bit stupid of us to push him. “It’s a little bit softly-softly with him to make sure that he’s fit for next week.”