France reaction (Alldritt, head coach Galthié, captain Ollivon, Lucu, Jalibert, Bourgarit, Flament, Ramos)

MIXED ZONE 

Matthieu Jalibert, fly-half

On France’s fast start:

"Just like the All Blacks last week, when they practically won the match in 20 minutes, that's really what we wanted to do: smother them with our game, our aggression and our intensity… we gave them no chance."

On the knock-out phase:

"It's a second World Cup. We have three finals to look forward to - a quarter, a semi-final and a final, so it’s a life-or-death competition. It's very exciting because we've prepared hard for moments like this, and we're right where we wanted to be."

Pierre Bourgarit, hooker

On the players’ reaction to the victory:

"Inevitably, [the performance] adds extra joy to the result. The main thing for us was to qualify for next weekend.

"In the dressing room, there were inevitably moments of joy. I wouldn’t necessarily say we’re serene, but we're sure of our strengths. We’ve gained a lot of confidence over the last two games."

Thibaud Flament, second row

On the match:

"We’re very satisfied tonight. There was a lot of pressure on us. We got off to a good start and managed to keep up the pace throughout the game, so we’re happy."

On France's fast start:

"We knew the Italians were going to be proud and determined. They’re a team with a lot of heart and character. We were expecting a big game, so we wanted to put the pressure on from the outset."

Thomas Ramos, full-back

On the contribution of kicking coach Vlok Cilliers:

“These days, every aspect of the game has a specialist. We talk a lot about stats with him, and after each match we get feedback on what we’ve done on the pitch, with the percentage of success of our kicking. Then he analyses the opposition’s kicking strategy. It's behind-the-scenes work, but it's just as important in top-level matches."

MEDIA CONFERENCE 

Fabien Galthié, coach

On the result:

"It's a successful match. The target was to qualify - despite having won the opening match against New Zealand and the two middle matches, we had to beat Italy. We did that, and we're happy with the score too. The fact that we were able to field all the players and control the match from start to finish with all 23 players, that's satisfying."

On the forwards’ performance:

"The breakdown was a success, the performance in the scrum, at the lineout, offensively and defensively, these were very positive areas in this match."

On defence:

"Our defence is improving. We’re taking the time to study where we can improve. We conceded seven points, which is consistent with our goals in this competition. If you look closely at all the teams who are bidding to win this World Cup, they have very airtight defences. We're looking to concede as few points as possible and suffer as little as possible without the ball."

On Damian Penaud:

"A winger is the final player in a chain of skills. Damian is lucky enough to play in a team that performs well and puts him in try-scoring situations. It’s very easy to congratulate Damian for his performance, but it’s also very easy when you have a team that works like that for you. Players become great because they are served by the team. Individual performance is served by the group, whatever the player. 

"Over the past four years, we’ve seen a lot of breakthrough players who have revealed themselves and grown, but it’s always because the team supports them. It's a combination. He contributes to the team’s performance and the team contributes to individual performances."

On injuries:

"We’re always sad when a player gets injured. We, the staff, always feel responsible - because we are always with the players in their development - but never guilty. If we put a player on the pitch, it’s because we’ve validated his ability to play. 

"We’ve also prepared for the scenario of losing players to injury. We lost Romain Ntamack, and Paul Willemse to an injury sustained during individual training at home. These were the two players who had to withdraw from a 42-strong squad. 

"And in the competition, among the 33, we have two injured players, Antoine Dupont and Julien Marchand. But they’re with us because we’re sure that we’ll see them again in the competition. We’re moving forward as a group of 33. We’re still 33. You can count on us to stick together."

On reaching the quarter-finals:

"We’re very happy to have succeeded in this match, very happy to have succeeded in our qualifying phase, and overall our four years and our 43 matches. Tonight, we’re going to recover well together, have a good time together to celebrate qualification, and then we’ll turn our attention to the quarter-final, which, after playing a first World Cup final against New Zealand in the opening match, will be a second World Cup final. 

"We're delighted to have qualified for this stage. But we know that our next fixture is a second World Cup final."

On a possible quarter-final against defending world champions South Africa:

"Whoever the opponent, for us it's clearly a World Cup final. On the one hand, the reigning world champions, who have prepared for back-to-back titles, and on the other, the world number ones. The draw has done its job; it's up to us to do ours."

On France’s game plan:

"As long as we score and win games, that’s fine. We’re not here to demonstrate. Playing long sequences is not our objective. Taking time to score is not our objective. 

"Our aim is always to win matches, and to win a match, you have to tick a number of boxes. Sometimes you score in a certain way and sometimes you don’t concede points. The important thing is to be ahead at the end. We’re not here to make clean copies, we’re here to win the match." 

On killing the match off quickly:

"It's true it happened quickly. The match was killed off in the 20th minute. We wanted to attack the match with everything we could. You never know what’s going to happen. There are so many opportunities to be penalised, with or without the ball... By the rules, but also by your opponents.

"You can never anticipate. We have a plan, and often things don't go according to plan. We’ve learned to adapt to the situation. It turned out better than expected. Scoring 24 points in 20 minutes was perfect."

Charles Ollivon, captain

On France’s performance in Lyon:

"We wanted to be on the front foot from the start, for the full 80 minutes, to put in a lot of intensity and prepare ourselves for what was to follow. 

"That was the watchword in the dressing room before the start of the match. The forwards have a big responsibility, but we played our part well and helped put the half-backs and the threequarters in a good position. I’m satisfied with that aspect of the game. We wanted to be on the front foot with 15 players, and we did that well tonight."

On France’s performance in the last two matches:

"It’s the result of our hard work and application throughout the match. Whether it was against Namibia or Italy, we wanted to be serious and do things in the right order. It’s the consequence of hard work. At the same time, it’s a real signal that we were serious, that we did things right."

ON-FIELD REACTION 

Grégory Alldritt, Mastercard Player of the Match and number eight

On how it feels to have reached the quarter-finals:

"The first step is done. We are going to enjoy the weekend because it was a tough game today. We will do our recovery and this weekend and then prepare for the quarter-final."

On his stand-out performance:

"It's a lot after one month not playing. I am happy with the team performance. It was a 23-player game today and I am happy for everyone."

Fabien Galthié, head coach

On France’s victory:

"We took on the match in the best possible way, with the ball, the score, a lot of defensive doggedness when they had possession, good rucks, which enabled us to play with the ball for the first 20 minutes and to kill the match off in 20 minutes. Then, the problem for us, the French, the Latins, is that we relax a little and play less accurately. But we finished the game with 60 points. It's our sixth game in this cycle against Italy and it's our best score."

On the intensity:

"In these matches, you have to be ready to go very high in intensity of speed, intensity of fight, intensity of effort, making correct choices in positioning, in defence or attack. That's what we said at half-time. On the whole, the team managed to keep up the level and quality of play, thanks to their coaching."

Charles Ollivon, captain and flanker

On the performance:

"On the pitch, it's pretty easy; we train and play together a lot. We've been together for four years now. It's pretty easy to know where we all are and how we're set up on the pitch. That gives us a sense of direction when the going gets tough, and that can make all the difference."

On the pool stages:

"Four games, four wins. This was an elimination match for us, we had no right to make mistakes. We wanted to play with intensity and we did, and we kept it up for 80 minutes. It's very positive and sets us up for the next stage. We really want to be there.

"We're prepared for it, we're working for it. We know it's going to be tough, but we want to take everyone with us. We're going to leave it all out there."

Maxime Lucu, scrum-half

On the result:

"It's a job done. We talked about it being a round-of-16 match. We knew that if we lost, we'd be out. We won, and in style too. We're happy today.

"We wanted to put things in order, discipline and realism. We wanted to establish our game and it's easy when you do that. We struggle against this Italian team. We had to do it and we did it very well. It got us going."

On the quarter-finals:

"We have to find out who we're playing. We'll be keeping a close eye on that. We need to recuperate and we'll see you next Sunday.

"It's good to have the competition back home. The stadium is packed - 58,000 people, it's just great. We need to enjoy it a little because we've been under a lot of pressure over the past 10 days."

Matthieu Jalibert, fly-half

On the match:

"We took this match seriously. We tried not to focus on what had happened between Italy and New Zealand and really concentrate on ourselves with a game plan to put them to the sword. I think we started perfectly.

"We knew they were mentally fragile after what happened last week. We had to start strong and that if we scored quickly, it would be easier. That's what we were able to do. It's satisfying. We played high-intensity rugby for 80 minutes and I think that's good for next week.

"It was a good match that will prepare us for what's to come. I'm really confident in this team."