QUOTES
France captain Estelle Sartini: “The win against Canada was very exciting and a good thing for the French team. The team has put in a lot of work over four years. We have good players with big hearts. I am very proud of this team.
“I think scoring the first try was very important because it is good for the morale of the French team, but also very hard for the morale of the Canadian team. It meant a lot to score first.
“When you win a match, it’s because you’ve played hard for every minute, not just the first two. Out of respect for the other team, we fight hard until the final whistle. It’s very important to play an intense game until the very end.
“Finishing third is very important for our country and for our French teams. The president of French rugby was in the crowd today. It was important to win in front of him. It brought recognition for us, for the women, while the French are organising the men’s World Cup in France 2007.”
France coach Benoit Oszustowicz: “We knew Canada was a really strong team. French forwards were strong today and that’s what made the difference. All the teams are tired after all the competitions we’ve been through. With a match every four days, it’s unheard of. All the teams are tired. Today, Canada was dynamic and France had to play hard.
“This tournament is really good promotion for women’s rugby. The play at this tournament was very interesting. The fact that there is a lot of media sending information internationally is good for all countries involved.”
Canada captain Kelly McCallum: “This wasn’t how we wanted to end the tournament. We made a lot mistakes with our passing and didn’t play the game Canada can play. We will move on from this. There are a lot of positives to take from today’s match. The last time we played France in the World Cup we lost 41-7. The game today was a lot closer. I think we proved that we can compete with the top teams in the world.
“Our main focus was playing game by game. We started with New Zealand and needed to put that behind us. The next day we thought about it and watched videos and then we forgot about it and prepared for our next game.”
Canada coach Neil Langevin: “Any time you have a close game in a semi final it takes a lot of emotion. I think we did a really good job and the girls are incredible participants. They really came back for today’s game with force. Our team leaders are so good at getting the girls ready to go.”
Canada full back Heather Moyse: “It was great to play at home. We have the best fans wherever the tournament is going to be. We had fans from Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and everywhere in between. They follow us to the game and it was great to have that support.
“My personal strength is finding that green space and going for a run, but scoring tries was entirely due to my awesome team mates. When I scored, it meant I was the last person to get the ball when our forwards made a great platform for our scrum half, who got great ball through the backs. Everyone did the little jobs that needed to get done.”