QUOTES
USA coach Kathy Flores: “I’m very proud of our position. How often do you end up fifth and have a 4-1 record?
"Going forward, one goal for the USA is to have more international matches. We need to have played more than ten games before we come to the World Cup. We competed well, but imagine what we could do if we played more games leading up to here.
"I think this World Cup squad is right up there. I think the first World Cup team that came out here in '91, nobody was really playing much and we were. We are now on the bottom end and everyone else is catching up. I think we’ve done a lot with what we’ve had. I think we had a lot of great support.
USA captain Jen Crouse: “We feel great after this victory. Coming in fifth was our goal after the first match and I’m really happy with how it all turned out. I am really proud of everyone. I couldn’t ask for a better bunch of teammates. It’s a great note to end on.
“I think everyone on the US team has handled this experience with tremendous integrity. I think everyone came here ready to play. We built up a lot of positive energy coming in here. We had a few ups and downs as you would expect with a very long tour. We came out on a very positive note.”
USA centre Pam Kosanke: "We had a lot of great support at this tournament, and that had a huge impact on us. We got a barrage of phone calls and emails after each match from people watching online at home. It was great to have such an amazing fan base."
Scotland coach Gil Stevenson: "I think as a whole the campaign we’ve had has been great. The girls have worked extremely hard. The fact that we are here is an achievement because we have a playing base of only 450 players in the country. To have such a small playing base, we’ve performed extremely well.
"We scored a number of tries and were delighted with that. We knew today was going to be a tough game. Unfortunately, the US played well and have a lot of good, fast athletes. If the opposition has pace, there’s not much you can do. Well done to USA.
“There is a lot of work to be done for the next World Cup. We have ten players retiring, so we are going to need a lot of development but there are four years to build. One of my recommendations is to start the long term planning process right now.”
Scotland captain Paula Chalmers: “We are really disappointed to come in sixth. We had been playing quite well so far and it was a bit of a disappointment. We felt that we came in with a fighting chance. We just weren’t awake in the first 20 minutes and it cost us the match.
“It’s been a fantastic experience at this World Cup. Our team has got quite a blend of old and young players and I think for the players of the future, its been a massive learning curve. I think the experience was invaluable. Getting to play the USA was a massive opportunity for our younger players.”
Scotland's retiring flanker Donna Kennedy: “Quite a few of the Scotland players are retiring. We thought it was important to finish as high as we could because we have a lot of young players on the side. We need to become a good Scotland.
“It was tremendous for me to be involved in four World Cups. To play in one is amazing. The time I’ve had playing rugby, playing for Scotland, has been fantastic.”