New Zealand reaction (head coach Foster, Savea, Mo'unga, Barrett, Whitelock, Smith)

ON-FIELD REACTION

Ian Foster, New Zealand head coach

On his team’s performance:

“It was obviously a tight game. At half-time both teams were right in it. I thought they squeezed us in that second half and we struggled to really get a lot of momentum.

"When we did get down there we created some opportunities but we weren’t quite good enough. It was a see-sawing game, but you’ve got to take your hat off to them. In the third quarter they really squeezed us with possession.”

On late absence of captain Sam Cane:

“He put his back out in yesterday’s captain run, just lifting someone from kick-off, so we looked at him this morning and he wasn’t quite right so that’s why we made the change.”

On New Zealand’s discipline:

“I think the discipline wasn’t too bad. They earned a few penalties from us at the breakdown, we knew they were going to be good there. But there’s enough in there going forward. This was always going to be a big game.

Ardie Savea, number eight, captain

On the difference between the teams:

"It was a battle. It was going back and forth, back and forth and in that last 20 [minutes] our discipline let us down and we weren't clinical enough in our own half and they punished us. We gave a few penalties away and they punished us.

"We never got scoreboard pressure and the time was running out. It just didn't go our way tonight. We've got to regroup and keep going forward."

On Sam Cane's absence:

"We always have to stay ready and that was just one of the scenarios that happened. We've got to adapt and adjust.

"It's tough when you lose your skip but I thought the boys that came in filled the job right. It's unfortunate we didn't get the win tonight."

On what to build on:

"We look dangerous when we had the ball but we let ourselves down, and [we were] not being patient and clinical with out skillset. We lost the battle tonight but we've still got a will to win."

MEDIA CONFERENCE REACTION

Ian Foster, head coach:

On his overall thoughts on the game:

“It was a heck of an opening game of the World Cup and congratulations to France. I thought they were the better team on the night. I was really satisfied with a lot of what we did but they managed to squeeze us for territory and possession in that last quarter and put pressure on us. It is a certainly a big win for them but it doesn’t change a lot. We have just got to find another way through this pool.”

On the pre-match injury to regular captain Sam Cane:

“He did it yesterday late afternoon in the captain’s run. He was doing a bit of lifting of a jumper at a lineout. He brought them down and felt his back get strained. It was pretty stiff last night and we had a look at him this morning and decided to pull him. It has freed up and he is moving better than he was yesterday but we didn’t have clear information about how bad his back was.

“We will have a look at that tomorrow. He says he’s had it before but we will check it out properly. His back went into spasm around a disc, but it doesn’t look too serious at this stage.”

On losing a World Cup pool match for the first time:

“I don’t think we have to rebuild. Stats are stats, I understand all that. But in the past we have won all  our pool games but not won the tournament, and our goal is to win the tournament. This was always going to be massive, we know how strong France are.

“You saw ambition from us and whenever we had the opportunity to play, we were pretty efficient at taking it. But they denied us opportunities to attack them in their half. It was frustrating that some of the pictures we painted for the ref at scrum were penalised and perhaps they were painting lightly different pictures and getting away with it.

“There were some good lessons for us. We fired some good bullets, we just didn’t fire enough.”

"Playing France here in the opening game was pretty special but they were just a bit too good. We’ve got to find another pathway for us now."

On whether there was a disparity in the scoreline and how the match panned out:

“It certainly felt like that but it is what it is. They were good enough at the end and got the bounce of the ball at the end which inflated the score a bit but it was a pretty tough game for both sides. I thought they were out on their feet in the last 10 minutes before half-time and we should have been a bit more efficient. We missed it in the corner with a loose pass, we weren’t quite good enough.

On why they lost the penalty count so heavily:

“Pressure. You have to give France some credit for that. Will [Jordan] was a bit clumsy with a couple of aerial things and the second one didn’t help us. The yellow card came at a bad time against a team who like to exploit the back-field. France were good enough to take advantage of that but our discipline was pretty good in the first half.  When we had ball, we played with a lot of ambition, there was a lot of good stuff. It was just frustrating we couldn’t really strike in that second half.”

On if he thinks they could beat France if they meet later in the tournament:

“Yeh, I do but we have to shift a couple of areas to be more efficient in the air. We were not good at chasing our own kicks today, that’s obvious. We scrummed well for spells in that game but the pictures we painted allowed them to exploit us so we will have to chase that up with the officials.

“Most of the penalties were about them getting on the ball really quickly and us not being able to move them. That’s something we can control and take lot of pride in. But they have set a pretty high bar for us, so we have been given that message.”

On whether he regrets not picking more loose forwards in his squad:

“Hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? The injuries over the last 10 days have put us under a bit of pressure. I thought Tupou [Vaa’i] played well for large periods and then ran out steam a bit. We probably brought ‘Guzz’ [Brodie Retallick] back a week earlier than we wanted, but we have got him back up to speed now. We will be bringing someone in and don’t be surprised if it is a loose forward.”

MIXED ZONE REACTION

Richie Mo’unga, fly-half:

On whether there is still hope for the All Blacks:

“When you look at the amount of opportunities we had in that game, we are just gutted about the way we let France back into the game when we had all the pressure.

“We know World Cups are challenging but it doesn’t all rely on the first game. That result is obviously not ideal for us, but we can only take what we can out of it now. We will have a really good look at ourselves and where we went wrong. That will be very hard to do but we need to if we want to go further.

“We put a lot of pressure on them and there was a lot we were really happy with. Sometimes it was just the bounce of the ball and I felt we were a bit hard done by with a few calls that allowed them to get momentum.”

Beauden Barrett, full-back

On the result:

“It won’t change much if we both earn the right to be in the quarter-final. What we’ve got to take from this game is the learnings, but also keep believing because we did a lot of good things out there tonight and after 60 minutes the game is on a knife-edge.

"The French certainly rode their wave of home support. The atmosphere was fantastic and a great way to start the tournament at a home World Cup.”

Sam Whitelock, second row

On the lessons learnt in the defeat by France:

"A disappointing night, that's for sure. The biggest thing was our discipline, we gave away a few too many penalties.

"At times, we built a bit of pressure and got rewards for it but we didn't do enough.

"You've got to take your opportunities, you don't get many, and there were a couple of key moments there that we didn't execute our simple skills, whether that's a catch-pass or cleaning a ruck. That's where we've got to adapt and grow and get better."

On if New Zealand have to stay positive:

"You do. We haven't been in this situation before [losing a Rugby World Cup pool game] and that's something we'll have to address but we can't dwell on it too much."

Aaron Smith, scrum-half

On New Zealand's start:

“The first half was really positive. We came out with intent, we moved the ball and scored early. We got into their 22 a couple more times and if we had nailed those a bit more cleanly, we could have been leading at half-time."

On the lessons learned:

“The lessons were just in execution and exiting our half. If you give penalties away, [Thomas] Ramos will punish you. But there were a lot of positives there.

“There was a lot of attention and nervousness around the game, a big game in a hostile environment. But we came out and played quite freely. It was just some of the execution that let us down.”