Ian Foster (New Zealand coach, after the All Blacks’ 96-17 victory over Italy): “We wanted to send a message, we felt like we had a good two weeks and we felt that we needed to rebuild momentum in this tournament after this break (the All Blacks’ previous match dates back to September 15 against Namibia, Editor’s note). But to play a team (Italy) that we had legitimate concerns about – because they are a good team and had played good rugby up to that point – and to dominate them like that, it’s really satisfying.
(on the return of the injured) We saw the difference that Shannon (Frizell) brought to our pack. I thought Jordie (Barrett) was strong. I thought Sam (Cane) and Tyrel (Lomax) would come off the bench and be better for those moments. We saw that the power was back in Tyrel’s legs in scrum. (on the rest of the tournament) We will continue to build on what we are doing. The important thing for us is that we had to play a match under pressure this evening (…) Some are talking about teams which would already be qualified for the quarter-finals. But there are still things to look forward to with implications. (on the last group match) Uruguay showed that they are an eye-catching team, so we have to respect them. But we are clearly where we wanted to be.”
At the microphone of Sky Sports