"We approach each game to win it and adapt to the game. We back players to be able to adapt and this is what we did. In fact we played too much rugby" Brian Ashton, England coach

"The English did not do a great deal against us. They just waited. In these type of closely-fought matches, the team that is more realistic wins" Yannick Jauzion, France centre

"The older boys are thinking 'I might never do this again' and the younger boys are thinking 'I might never do this again, so I might as well give it a bash'" Toby Flood, England wing

"The last two games, tactically, we've stepped up two or three levels. To win a World Cup you haven't got to beat every team in the world. You just have to beat the next team" Lawrence Dallaglio, England back row

"We could not find any weaknesses, it was as simple as that. We could not get our game together against England" Bernard Laporte, France coach

"Following the defeat to South Africa we effectively started the knockout stages in the last 32 against Samoa. Now we are down to the last two" Rob Andrew, England director of elite rugby

"The last 10 minutes of the match were sealed by one man who does what others can't: Jonny" Bernard Lapasset, France rugby president