Keith Wood (IRE) - Captain
On the loss to France:
"It's very disappointing. But you know we just didn't play in the first half. I think we can hold our heads up. We tried really hard in the second half, we tried our damnedest...it just didn't come off."
Brian O'Driscoll (IRE) - Centre
On the team's effort:
"It wasn't enough. It was all uphill after the first half. Full credit to the French, they took their opportunities."
On the French performance:
"They finished the little gaps they made for themselves. The better team won on the night."
Frederic Michalak (FRA) - Flyhalf
On the Semi Finals:
"I'm delighted to be in a World Cup Semi Final as a young player. It is fantastic and also for the team."
Fabien Galthie (FRA) - Captain
On the impressive performance against Ireland in the Quarter Final:
"(I am) very happy for the French team. We knew today would be hard, but we started really well and we played a very good first half. The second was a little bit more difficult because we were very tired, but it's OK because we scored 43 points to 21. I am very happy for French football and for our country."
Keith Wood (IRE) - Captain on his future:
On the highlight of his career:
"I've had a lot of great times. I think this World Cup and this group of players was very special. It is very sad that it ends on a downer."
On how long he has known about his retirement:
"The truth of the whole thing is that I took the advice of my surgeon. He has been talking to me the whole time. About two years ago when Eddie (O'Sullivan) got the job as coach I knew I wanted to get to the World Cup. The biggest chance was that I would retire at the end of the World Cup."
On why he is retiring:
"My heart and my head is willing, but my body has had enough. The injury to the shoulder is an injury waiting to happen and I've had someone looking down on me I think."
On the loss to France:
"Early on we were in it on the scoreboard, but to be brutally frank we were just hanging on."
On the future of Irish rugby:
"I think there is something there. We will target the next World Cup."
On what he will do after retiring:
"I am going to take a bit of a step away from rugby for a while. I don't have the temperament for a coach. Eddie might be cranky, but not as cranky as me."
Eddie O'Sullivan (IRE) - Coach
On Keith Wood's retirement:
"I think we just lost a legend in the game of rugby. His name will live on. I think we've just seen the retirement of a legend."
On the French side's strength:
"Their scrum was incredibly powerful. We were pulled and dragged everywhere."
"We were punchdrunk in every shape and form. It took a lot of character in the second half to come out and play good rugby."
On the French side's prospects in the Semi Final:
"They've always had flair. They've always had power. There's something about this French side that's menacing. They've got phenomenal speed and class. If they can get that kind of form in the next round, it will take a hell of a side to beat them. I think France can beat England [if England beats Wales] and England know it."
On whether Irish rugby is moving forward:
"We're going forward. In the bigger picture Irish rugby is going forward. The French are timing their run in this World Cup really well."
On captain Keith Wood's build-up to this Tournament:
"He's been through hell to get here. He was dead twice over (following injuries). Nobody put more into this World Cup than Keith WOOD."
Bernard Laporte (FRA) - Coach
On the injury to lock Olivier Brouzet (FRA):
"He has suffered a bruised shoulder and the injury seems serious enough for him to be in doubt for the Semi Final at this stage."
On France’s prospects for the rest of RWC 2003:
"We have yet to win the World Cup, but we don't care who the opposition is. We have the means to win and we will give it all we've got. The more you play in a game, the more mistakes you are bound to make."
Fabien Pelous (FRA) - lock
On the French performance:
"We played the match as we expected. It felt like we were playing again some of the moves that we had been practising at training all week."
Frederic Michalak (FRA) - flyhalf - on the French performance:
"We wanted to see what we could do when we took charge of a game. It's a shame we slackened off towards the end."