All things Irish "I think it would be fair to say Ireland will win." - Namibia coach Hakkies Hasselman was right in his prediction, but his team ended up running the Irish close.
"Mate, I'm not sure. I'll ring Centrebet (Australian online bookmakers) and ask them for you."
- Australia head coach John Connolly predicted France would beat Ireland, but when asked what the points margin would be, he needed to call home.
"That was our worst performance for a long time. We were very, very poor and I can't remember when we last made so many unforced errors."
- Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan on the way Ireland played in beating Namibia 32-17.
"Namibia and Georgia have both shown that they have not come here just to lie down. We know we're going to have to work hard in every game. It's going to be very intense against Georgia."
- Ireland flanker David Wallace didn't know at the time how prescient he was in his answer.
"I am a bit shocked to hear that and I can't understand why anyone would say that. The guys have trained hard and the hotel has been brilliant. It is more a case of maybe the players not enjoying their performance against Namibia last weekend."
- Ireland head coach Eddie O'Sullivan on rumours some of the Irish players were not enjoying the World Cup.
"It was a very tough game and I did not play wonderfully."
- Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll on the 14-10 win over Georgia.
"Yes. I understand that and I would describe it as a crisis, yes."
- Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan on whether he agreed with the public perception that his team was in crisis.
"The window for the World Cup is in September and that puts the Northern Hemisphere sides under severe pressure to get themselves together."
- Eddie O'Sullivan.
"Maybe the Argentines are a little cocky right now. There is one game played in the World Cup and we're talking about points and point spreads already - it's a bit early."
- Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan operates with a malfunctioning crystal ball.
"We are running out of excuses - it's now time to deliver."
- Ireland's Gordon D'Arcy before the Argentina game.
Misfortune
"I don't mind kicking the ball but I prefer to run it. I like a bit of confrontation, unfortunately."
- Australia wing Mark Gerrard on ignoring a call to kick, therefore running into two tackles that injured his knee and ended his World Cup after less than a minute.
"Yeah, you're right. Probably would have broken my foot, I don't know."
- Gerrard again, on being asked if he might have been injured had he opted to kick.
Team-mates
"I think Seru (Rabeni), because I think he's the loudest in the team - loud music, awkward music, you never know what's coming next."
- Fiji centre Seremaia Bai on who has the team's worst taste in music.
"It's because they only listen to Fijian music; they don't expand their mind listening to rock and dance music. Sometimes they kill music; they have the worst taste those boys."
- Fiji captain Mosese Rauluni on his team-mates' criticism of his musical tastes.
"In one of the boys' villages, they have to carry the one TV to the top of the mountain just to get reception so they can watch the games. The hard-core fans are the ones we really play for."
- Fiji captain Rauluni on the support for his team back home.
Rugby education
"I learned how to play rugby by watching old Test matches that I had recorded and honed my skills that way. Due to the lack of opportunities, this was the only possible way. The next thing I knew, I was being thrust into the lineout and started playing from there."
- USA forward John Vandergeissen on how he started playing rugby.
"If we start on the right foot, the people will follow the team. But if we start losing, they will prefer to watch any football match, even one from the fourth division."
- Agustín Pichot of Argentina on his side's chances of garnering support from fans during the competition.
Tactics
"It's pretty simple beating the All Blacks, in my opinion. If we do what we have been practising better than they do what they have been practising, we will win the game."
- Scotland head coach Frank Hadden on how he thought his team would fare against New Zealand. They lost 40-0.
"We love the adversity. We need it and it makes us stronger."
- Argentina head coach Marcelo Loffreda on how the Pumas deal with obstacles.
"There is no key in sport. Rugby is a combat. It's a fight. If you're good in the fight you can win. The key is to fight and fight."
- France coach Bernard Laporte on the key to their quarter-final against New Zealand.
Disaster
"I would probably go so far as to say that we looked at the South Africa game last week and thought that was the worst performance by an English team in a World Cup, so we are both in the same boat from that point of view."
- England coach Brian Ashton replying to claims that Samoa played their worst World Cup match against Tonga the previous week.
"It was very hard to go back to the hotel to see all the people (family and supporters) there. The ones that don't have family here just went up to their rooms to cry."
- Argentina assistant coach Mario Barandiaran on the team's feeling after the match against South Africa.
"Normally at that time of the night you get a call from a player telling you that they can't sleep and need a sleeping tablet or that someone is throwing up, but last night was quite bizarre."
- Scotland team doctor James Robson on receiving a telephone call at 12.30am to insert stitches into a player who had been accidentally hit in the head by a water bottle.
Humour
"I'm not that good-looking either."
- Australia number eight Wycliff Palu on comments that Welsh player Colin Charvis "was ugly to start with" before the two clashed heads.
"I'm hoping to play next week. I'm fed up doing rehab - they get me in the pool and I can't swim."
- Injured England wing/fullback Jason Robinson on his recovery.
"More of an uncle."
- Matt Giteau on the role he sees himself playing to Berrick Barnes, the youngest member of Australia's RWC 2007 squad, after dismissing the "father or elder brother" suggestions.
"It's a long way to swim home after this (if we don't win)."
- New Zealand flanker Jerry Collins on the quarter-final against France.
"We were preparing a patient for a Caesarean section and I thought this is a bit late for someone to be calling me."
- Jannie du Plessis (RSA), a doctor, on receiving the call to tell him he was being drafted in to replace BJ Botha in the South Africa team.
"It's hard to say but I'm definitely going to have a beer."
- George Gregan on what he'll do now he is an ex-Test rugby player.
"Miss the bloody thing."
- England replacement hooker George Chuter on what he was thinking when Australia captain Stirling Mortlock was lining up his penalty kick three minutes from time.
"You blindfold yourself and spin around for 10 times and then open your eyes and try to chase it down."
- Canada head coach Ric Suggitt on preparing to play against Fiji's expansive attacking style.
"Injuries to the left, injuries to the right - we have a good political balance."
- Italian manager Carlo Checchinato.
"I am like a duck. I am very calm above water but my feet are going a thousand miles an hour under water."
- Canada head coach Suggitt on nerves ahead of his team's match against Wales.
Politics
"We've heard news from back home that Fiji has gone mad. With all the (political) crisis back home, rugby's the thing that brings all the nation together. You're not only playing for yourselves but all the people back home. It's good to put a smile on their face."
- Fiji captain Mosese Rauluni on the reaction following their qualification for the quarter-finals.
" If it was the All Blacks, it was the All Blacks, if it was Scotland, it was Scotland - we don't have the luxury of coming into a World Cup and saying we'll do this and play this team. We just fight for what we have."
- Argentina captain Agustin Pichot on whether avoiding playing the All Blacks in the quarter-finals was a motivating factor in their victory over Ireland.
"Sport is the best way to convey messages (to those) who cannot understand our language, and sports appeal to everybody."
- South African icon Nelson Mandela on the significance of sport.
"It is a bit of an omen. He had the World Cup in his hands in 95, he wore a number-six jersey, he had the World Cup in his hands now."
- Jake White, South Africa's coach, on meeting with Mandela before their opening game.
Celebration
"It's not quite a million-and-one text messages. My phone has been going all night. It's terrific. You feel you are living in a bubble at a World Cup tournament, but from the final whistle you felt the support of all the England fans.
- England head coach Brian Ashton on the support the team has received.
"There are parades back home, schools are wearing red and the supporters in New Zealand have gone crazy. All the pain we have gone through in this tournament has brought us together as a nation."
- Tongan captain Nili Latu.
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