France reaction (Alldritt, general manager Ibanez, Dupont, head coach Galthié, Ramos, Mauvaka)

ON-FIELD REACTION

Mastercard Player of the Match: Gregory Alldritt

On performance:

"Really, really tough game. We were expecting really hard opposition and it was a massive game for the team today and I'm proud to be French tonight."

On turning point:

"I said before the game the one who was going to win was the one who was going to play for 80 minutes, and I think we played well for 80 minutes. It's a great night for us."

On the conditions:

"It was really, really hot."

On the support of the crowd in Stade de France:

"Massive support. Fantastic to get a stadium like this. We are looking forward to the next game. We said if we lost it was not the end of the World Cup. We are not champions now. We just need to keep working and go step by step."

Raphael Ibanez, general manager

On how he feels to win the opening match:

"It's just the perfect start we could imagine in front of a home crowd. It was a very hard-fought win but the way the team delivered is very promising for the next two weeks."

On the team's character after losing an early try:

"It was pretty obvious the pressure, especially in the first half, but we were still leading by one point at half-time but then the boys tried to play the rugby they want to play.

"I think it's a long way to go but it was a perfect start for us."

On what to build on in the pool stage:

"In a World Cup game, especially on the opening day, I think what matters most is team spirit. That's what we have seen today.

"Team spirit, togetherness that's something we rely on when we have to front up when we have tough times. That was the case today against a beautiful and fabulous All Blacks team but team spirit was the key tonight."

Antoine Dupont, captain, scrum-half

On the performance:

"It was a bit of an up-and-down game, we had trouble getting into it, maybe because of the pressure of the opening match, at home etc. The All Blacks put us under a lot of pressure at the rucks. We stayed calm and worked hard throughout the match and, above all, finished well." 

On France’s next opponents:

"For the time being, we're just going to enjoy [the win] and recover from this match. After that, we'll look ahead to the match against Uruguay, which is coming up fast, with a high-performance, physical player at scrum-half [Santiago Arata]. He shows it every weekend in the Top 14. He'll obviously be one to watch. We saw him blossom at the last World Cup and since then he's never stopped improving."

On the heat at Stade de France:

"It made the ball slippery - even New Zealand made several handling errors. Obviously, playing in 30-degree temperatures in a stadium like the Stade de France, where there's not much air, it's not easy. We felt it as soon as we warmed up: you sweat a lot, you feel a bit heavier, it's harder to accelerate. We saw a few players suffering from cramp. But the conditions were the same for both teams."

Fabien Galthié, head coach

On the match:

"It was important to get off to a good start after all the work we've put in preparing for this match. We were under a lot of pressure in the first half, and we found it hard to break free.

"They scored very early, rather easily. Then we lost Julien Marchand. We started the match in the worst possible way - but that’s all part of the game.

“We got a bit caught up in the atmosphere. But we went into the dressing room in front, thanks to our discipline.

"Then in the second half, our finishers enabled us to regain control of the match, but not immediately. Again, they scored from our mistakes when we could have done better. 

"But we won the arm-wrestle. That enabled us to keep in touch with New Zealand, particularly in our weaker moments, and then meant we regained control of the second half, and also meant Thomas Ramos could keep us in touch with his kicking.”

"At the end of the day, it's a heavy score in our favour.

"We didn't expect this atmosphere. It was very tense, even in the stands. We're not used to this kind of atmosphere."

On New Zealand team:

"We didn't get the impression that this was a team with more experience in terms of caps, age, whereas we're still young."

On France’s performance:

"It was very hot and the ball was slippery. But in terms of desire and attitude, we were there. We had an average first half and yet we were ahead at half-time. That was a good thing, despite a few things needing improvement.

"In the second half, we played much better. We're really happy, it's great to win this first game, but the competition is long and we're not going to get carried away.

"We can enjoy this victory."

On New Zealand:

"They're a team that can play, as we know. They were coming off a big loss in their last warm-up match, so we knew it was going to be very intense. They're one of the favourites, so we shouldn’t be surprised by that intensity."

Peato Mauvaka, hooker

On beating New Zealand:

"They'd never lost a pool match, so we knew it would be tough. They smothered us a bit at the start of the game, so we couldn't play our game too well. We knew we'd have to stay cool, and that at some point we'd have to pull the trigger.”

On the half-time team talk:

"We got a slap on the wrist from Fabien (Galthié). We were a bit down and couldn't get out of it. During the break, they (the coaches) said a few words to us that made us switch back on.”