Faf de Klerk, scrum-half

On the atmosphere at the end:

“You could see what it means for both sides. I want to say thank-you to the South African fans who came out. It was obviously heartbreaking for the French fans, they have been amazing. Hopefully some of them might come and support us now.”

On playing England in the semi-final:

“We have played against England a lot. Obviously they have been struggling before the World Cup but they have definitely started to turn things around.

“It is going to be a very big, tough challenge, especially with a six-day turnaround. We just have to focus on recovery and make sure we are ready for that.”

Manie Libbok, fly-half

On Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber being like chess players:

“Obviously the coaches put a lot of work in and give us good info and show us where the opportunities come up. The plan for us as players is to go out and execute and play what’s in front of us – they say ‘if the opportunity is there, you guys have to take it’. It all comes down to the work we put in during the week, the preparation.”

On his memories of the 2019 final against this year’s semi-final opponents England:

“I was still at the Bulls at the time so I was in Pretoria at my place. It was incredible to see what the boys did to win the World Cup – massive.”

Jesse Kriel, centre

On getting revenge for the loss 11 months ago to France: 

“After November’s loss against them we were disappointed and we wanted to make that right. So, it was nice to get an opportunity tonight to fix that.”

On what was said under the posts after conceding a try in the first minutes: 

“Look, we simulate these things throughout the week and I think as South Africans we are a pretty resilient bunch and I think it’s all things that we’ve experienced before in rugby games. And yeah, I thought we bounced back well.

“Obviously, taking no credit away from the French. They are an unbelievable side and we knew they’d come out firing in front of a massive crowd. And yeah, I think the response was good.”

On being stitched up during the match: 

“Yah, I got a few, I don’t know how many, it’s quite a big cut. I don’t know, I think just hitting a guy’s hip or something, a bit of bone on bone. Luckily it’s all good and it was just a cut. Luckily these things heal.”

On what comes next: 

“The most important thing is we got the result, we got what we came here for tonight. There is still a lot of rugby to be played in this tournament, another two big games and obviously not looking past next week and semi-finals.

“It’s just about getting back to the drawing board tomorrow and getting the bodies fresh and all eyes on Saturday.”

Pieter-Steph du Toit, flanker:

On the atmosphere:

“It was an unbelievable honour and privilege for to play at the Stade de France in a game like that. The atmosphere was amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever played in a stadium with that amount of noise.”

On their prospects of winning another Rugby World Cup in France, after triumphing in 2007:

“We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. We will just take it game by game. We will travel to another hotel tomorrow and then start our analysis.”

On facing England in the semi-final:

“They have a new coaching staff and a new system as well. We will have to start checking that stuff out, although I’m sure our staff are already doing that. It’s very exciting. It’s another opportunity to do ourselves and our country proud.

“They have won every game. A World Cup is different when you get to knockout matches and they have taken their opportunities. Hopefully we will do that against England as well. The ball can go either way. We just have to make sure we are better prepared and stick to our plan.

“It was nice to see all the South Africa supporters when we were doing our victory lap. We are so thankful for all of them who came out for us.”

On why he had glitter all over him:

“Unfortunately that glitter was my son. A lot of the wives and families put glitter on their faces to support us. So when we hugged them afterwards, it was from that.”

Mbongeni Mbonambi, hooker and Mastercard Player of the Match

On whether French fans might support South Africa now:

“We have 60 million South Africans who support us all the way and I think for now that will do but if the French want to support us, they’re more than welcome. We’ve really enjoyed our time here and we’re looking forward to the following week.”

Jacques Nienaber, head coach

On the magnitude of the test match:

“The French in France, you look at their consistency, they’ve been a proper team building with good individuals. We knew it would be a proper test match. All the other quarter-finals were won and lost in the last minutes of the game.”

On the referee:

“I thought Ben was good on the day. You would say we won and that’s why I’m saying that. We tried to take the referee out of the game – we scored four tries, and missed one or two, and one from the tee. We managed it well. I thought his communication on the day was excellent in terms of the decisions he made.”

On South Africa’s HIAs:

“It’s a call by the medical team and sometimes the match doctor can call a HIA if they see a big collisions.

“Pieter-Steph du Toit’s one, we spotted it from the side, so we requested it. It’s important we look after the safety of our players and if you do spot something, then send a player for an HIA and get clarity on that, especially if we felt he had a big collision to the head. I think the French team would say the same thing.”

On the one incident that shows the character of South Africa

“Cheslin’s charge-down (of a Thomas Ramos goal kick), you don’t see that often – somebody chasing a lost cause. We were opened up a couple of times but the scrambling, the effort the players put in was enormous.”

On things they can improve:

“There’s a lot of things where we got stuff wrong. The quick tap we’ve been working on for some time, we’ve not had an opportunity to use it. We worked on, but still there’s a lot of things we weren’t awesome at but that’s probably the pressure of a knockout game. There’s a lot stuff we need to fix.”

On being overconfident with team selection:

“We have a short turnaround, only six days, so we will look at the squad. I know you guys look at the bench and it’s a squad of 23 players we pick to get a result on the day. The gap between our players is not big. We’re fortunate in that. When you’re not selected, you just need to slot into a different sole. We know Duane won’t let us down, we know Vermeulen won’t let us down.”

On best backline performance:

“We had limited set-piece opportunity, so credit to the French. We had transition attack, the backs were excellent in terms so that. Every game is different, but the possession the backs got to today, they used well, based on the foundation of the forwards.”

Siya Kolisi, captain

On whether the game was won in the 10 minutes after half-time:

“Yeah, I think a lot of questions were asked of us as group by the French team. The character of the boys stood out. We had a clear plan what to do, especially in the breakdowns. We knew how hard they were going to be.

“They were tough to stop with 15 men, imagine how hard it was with 14. We had to fight for each other for that period and I am really proud of the character and discipline we showed.”

On the referee Ben O’Keefe:

“From our side, all we can do is play rugby. We can’t control the decisions the ref makes. We will have to look at the game but the communications with him and the calls he made were fair. I would never discredit the referee. Obviously Antoine [Dupont] has his own opinion.

“It was an amazing game, it was tough, physically it flowed. The way the two teams played outshines everything else. It was an amazing atmosphere. The French team have been building for four years so we knew it would take something special for us to win this game.

“For a leader like Antoine to come back and play like he did, we give credit to him and France and all the French people who made this World Cup so special. When we heard the anthems, we knew how loud it was going to be. The people of France can be proud of their team.

“It was a one-point game. Things like the charge-down from Cheslin [Kolbe], you don’t see that every day.  It was going to take something special for us to win. The French team and Antoine can hold their heads up high.”

On how they stopped France scoring:

“We scrambled a lot, especially when we were short of numbers. We talk about chasing lost causes as a group, we don’t give up until they put the ball down over the try-line. We worked together as a team.

“If we hadn’t done that, we would be going home tomorrow. We never give up. You can lose as a team, but as long as you don’t give up. We knew it would take something special and it did.”

On what made the difference:

“I think it’s in the week, the guys who didn’t play, the pictures they show us. It is tough for those guys when they are not picked but they are selfless. The bench when they came on, we made the substitutions early and they made a huge difference.

“That’s what this team is about. When you get taken off, we knew how much support they needed, so we were shouting from the bench.”
Jacques Nienaber, head coach

On the narrowest of victories:

“Credit to the French first of all. We knew it was going to be this tight. I think everybody knew it was going to be a big battle. Two good teams and unfortunately, or fortunately for us, we were on the right side of things.

“There was one point that separated it. I think the margins were marginal but no, credit to our players, they stuck in it to the end.”

On overcoming a yellow cards and injury issues:

“Yes, especially with the yellow card we had to come up with solutions but I must say that’s probably credit to the experience that we have in the squad. Stuff like that happens, they’ve been there before, they’ve been at a World Cup before and they’ve found solutions during the game.

“We knew it was going to be physical and with HIAs (Head Injury Assessments) it’s important to make sure your players are safe and so, yeah, luckily things worked out for us.”

On the prospect of facing England in the semi-final:

“Massive. I think it’s going to be a nice challenge. In knockouts anything can happen, like tonight I followed the England game when we were on the bus here. Also they (England) had a healthy lead and then Fiji came back and then they also pushed it right to the end. I think knockouts are going to be small margins right to the end.”

Siya Kolisi, flanker and captain

On how they came from behind to beat France: 

“I just thought we really wanted it. We knew how tough it was going to be. I must give credit to the guys that came off the bench, they made a huge difference. And the guys that didn’t play, the pictures they showed us, so we were ready for this game.

“And most importantly, the people back at home. Honestly, the support that we’ve received. You know, they can’t afford to be here but the videos, the schools singing for us and the videos. That’s who we play for. You know our families that are here right now.

“We play for the nation, it’s not about us on this field any more, it’s about the people back home and that’s what’s driving us. Win or lose they will see this kind of fight that you saw out there today.”

On giving credit to France: 

“It was a hard game. We knew how tough it was going to be with the French team at home and honestly, I just want to say well done to them for what they’ve achieved and how hard they’ve worked. And also to the supporters, the people of France, it’s been an amazing tournament and they can be proud of this team.”

On providing support from the sidelines having gone off early: 

“Obviously, somebody else was on the field, all I could do was bring the energy. With the amount of French people in the crowd, the boys need all the energy. We tried to stay as positive as we can, we keep them going.”

Mbongeni Mbonambi, hooker and Mastercard Player of the Match

On the one-point win against the hosts:

“All credit to the team, it was a whole team effort. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy playing the host team in their backyard, sold-out crowd singing their national anthem the whole time.

“Credit to coach Jacques (Nienaber) about managing around the week. Credit to the team, it’s not a one-man effort.

“We’ve still got two more games to go, this is still nothing.

“We were just focused on what we had to do, we stayed on task.

“It was a great game of rugby.”

Gregory Alldritt, number eight

On crashing out of the tournament: 

“It’s a huge disappointment. We wanted to go further.”

On this not being the end for this squad of players:

“Of course, it’s not over. We’re lucky enough to have the Six Nations coming up fairly quickly. We can switch to that.”

On whether France lost the match or South Africa won it:

 “There’s only one winner in rugby. That was South Africa tonight: they were better than us. I think we played a very good match, (but) we made mistakes in a World Cup quarter-final that cost us dearly.”

On the support the team has got from the French public throughout: 

“We’ve had tremendous support. It hurts to not give them another 15 days.”

Jonathan Danty, centre

On France failing to score between the 40th and 50th minutes:

“It’s a turning point and it was positive for the South Africans. The match lasted 80 minutes. There could perhaps have been a few more (yellow) cards. It’s always easy to talk about refereeing. There were some pretty clear situations that didn’t seem so to the referees. To err is human, unfortunately.

“It wasn’t the refereeing that lost the match.”

On what comes next for this team and for him: 

“The France team will go on. We’ll be at the World Cup in four years’ time. There are still some fine players to watch.

“For me, the next World Cup will be complicated. That’s a discussion I’ll have to have with the staff. I’m 31. If they want to work over a four-year period, maybe I won’t be part of it.”

Peato Mauvaka, hooker

On the pain of the defeat:

“We would have liked a better ending. That’s the way it is, that’s sport. You have to be able to digest it, even if it’s hard.

“We would have loved to lift this cup. Last year, we won a Grand Slam. We wanted to go further. That’s the way it is. We have to be realistic and work for four more years.”

Fabien Galthié, head coach

On his emotions after the defeat:

“I think first of all of the fans, our families and those people who believe in us every day, the staff, the players… My first thought is for them. Tonight, the French group must be courageous.”

On possible turning points in the match:

“There were so many key moments. Maybe when we were leading 7-0 and Eben Etzebeth cuts out the ball. We were on a hot streak and we didn’t finish it off. We could have taken a 12- or 14-point lead – and a few minutes later, it was 7-7.

“There’s also our attack under the posts at the end of the game, and if the ball comes out quicker, we would finish the action differently; when Antoine [Dupont] is unable to pass the ball precisely, too. These incidents, when they accumulate, are notorious. But it’s hard to pick out one key moment because there was so much going on.”

On the refereeing:

“He’s [referee Ben O’Keeffe] not on his own. The TMO and the referees have time to review the images like us and have the right to officiate. I ask my players to be brave at times like this because I understand their frustration. But I won’t comment on it personally.

“I’d rather congratulate them [the players]. We’ve worked hard with them and we’ll continue to work with them. I understand the players’ position, because there are a lot of emotions that are not easy to digest.

“But above all, congratulations to South Africa and their staff. Respect and fair play – may they continue on their way for as long as possible.”

On his plans for the next cycle:

“It’s difficult. We used ‘the arrow of time’ [analogy] to work and grow with the players according to a certain methodology. We’ve worked really well over the last four years with the staff, the players and the federation, and we’ve achieved something great.

“This arrow of time gave us a very clear vision. The French team will continue to play, move forward and develop. Only two players are retiring, Uini Atonio and Romain Taofifenua. As for the rest, what we’ve just experienced is part of writing the book for the French team.”

On what he said in the dressing room:

“I didn’t want anyone to film it, because certain moments have to remain between us. I congratulated the players and all those who worked for the good of the French team. I asked them to be as courageous as they have been for the past four years.”

On whether he will stand down:

“I have a contract that runs until June 2028, so no.”

On managing physical intensity:

“In the heat of the moment, I think we played well and had strong periods, even if we couldn’t make the most of them. At times, South Africa had the upper hand. I don’t have the stats and data yet, but I have the feeling that we were more than a match for them, and there were good periods and bad.”

On any regrets over planning and preparation:

“No regrets. We’re entitled to lose the way we did today. We did everything we could to make the most of our potential, and we did it. We made the best of everything that has happened over the last 15 weeks.”

On South Africa’s strategy and use of substitutes:

“Above all, they took the lead at a key moment, and we could have done that right to the end. These are games that come down to a point. We also had our moments in the second half, when we made a lot of ground and had plenty of good options. They played well, they played fair, they stopped our momentum by slowing down the rucks.

“They used the high ball a lot. We were also strong on things we’d prepared for, and it came down to one point.”

Antoine Dupont, captain, scrum-half

On his view of the refereeing:

“What did you think from the outside? It’s hard to say because there’s a lot of disappointment and frustration. We want to see the images again – which will give us even more disappointment and even more frustration – but I think some clear and obvious things weren’t whistled.

“I don’t know if the match was lost at that point, but at crucial moments, we could have had a penalty. When you’ve gone forward 60 metres and you’re slowed down in the rucks, it’s pretty easy to whistle. I don’t want to sound bitter, moaning about the refereeing because we lost the match, but I’m not sure the refereeing was up to the challenge.

“That doesn’t take anything away from the South Africans’ great game, who got on top of us at the breakdown. They played a great game.”

On knock-out game inexperience:

“Yes, it was our first knock-out game and we didn’t win, despite playing a big game in terms of intensity and content.

“We’re going to learn from this and gain experience. There’s a lot of frustration and disappointment, but we’re going to learn from this kind of match.”

On choosing to kick for points near the end:

“Yes, the question came up and we knew we had the chance to go over and score. We chose the penalty. It’s clear that when it doesn’t pay off we will go back and discuss it again, but it was the right option for us at the time.”

Thomas Ramos, full-back

On why France lost:

“It’s hard to answer that question – being a little more precise when we had the ball. In the first half, they fed off our mistakes; a little more success on our last set when we had the ball. Whether there was a foul or not, it’s not for me to comment. It’s obviously cruel. We’re disappointed and despondent tonight. That’s sport.”

On South African pressure:

“There were a few set-pieces that allowed them to stay in our half. It’s always annoying to play in your own half. I think we did some good things in this match, but it wasn’t enough. We knew they were a powerful team. They were very strong in the rucks and tackles. Our half-backs couldn’t get clean ball. Tonight was tough. We lost to a team stronger than us.”

Charles Ollivon, flanker

On frustration:

“It’s tough. At half-time, we were in good shape. In the end, we lost by a point. We need to review everything. It’s hard to analyse now. It’s not easy to be precise. It hurts others more than it hurts us. For all the support we’ve had, it’s heartbreaking.”

Raphael Ibanez, team manager

On the game:

“We are very sad tonight. I think we gave everything to win that game. We knew it would be a very tight game and we had to score every opportunity. We had some good opportunities but unfortunately we couldn’t convert them into points.”

On where it went wrong:

“We had our chances, they were pragmatic and sometimes we try and try our best with the support of the French fans. This is why we are sad tonight, we are sad for them. We have to get up and stand up and go for the next fight. We have other games coming, not in this World Cup, but we have to still believe in the team.”

On Antoine Dupont:

“I think he is an amazing player. I think he has shown some courage over the last few weeks. We knew he could play at that level and he is a true leader so it’s promising. Tonight is so hard for French fans and the team but we will be back.”

Matthieu Jalibert, fly-half

On elimination from Rugby World Cup:

“It’s hard to know what to say. When you look at the match, I think there was plenty of room for improvement. It was a fine game of rugby between two fine teams who gave it their all.

“There were moments when we could have scored in the second half and taken the lead.

“South Africa should also be congratulated for resisting our attacks and scoring when they had the chance. We’re disappointed and frustrated. When you see the atmosphere today, the support from all our supporters, we’re disappointed.

“We were in good shape physically, we managed to set up a fast-moving game, we had quite a lot of space but we weren’t able to capitalise. We made a lot of little mistakes, we were probably too hasty in trying to go too fast.

“They stuck to their plan, scoring three tries on the counter-attack in the first half, playing a lot of pressure games and feeding off our mistakes and the referee’s whistle to score at the right moment and with success.”

On the supporters:

“Every time we play at home, we have incredible support. What makes us even sadder is that we weren’t able to make them proud, to make them happy. For this group, it’s a lot of disappointment.”

On the future:

“We’re going to try to find something positive by saying that we have a lot of young players, a fine generation. But the reality is that today we failed to get out of the quarter-finals of a home World Cup. That’s going to be hard to accept.”

François Cros, back-row

On the result:

“We’re sad, at the result and this cruel ending. We’re disappointed, I’m at a loss for words. It’s a shame for us, for the group, for the fans. It’s very hard tonight.”

On fighting to the end:

“We never gave up. We had the ingredients, but we conceded points too easily. On the last play, we made an effort and weren’t rewarded. It’s cruel.”

On reasons France lost:

“We can find all the explanations we want, but it’s over. It’s the end of the adventure for us. It’s a shame for this group, who deserved to go further – we’ll never play another World Cup in France. It’s tough to end like this.”