Anecdotes for 2015

The final took place on October 23 at Eden Park, Auckland.

For the second time at a World Cup had two teams met in the pool stages and then again in the final. 

French scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili, whose kicking game was brilliant throughout the tournament, said the squad could return to France- with confidence, despite their loss to the All Blacks.

Yachvili: "We thought before the game that we should give everything so that we would not have any regrets. It was close. We stuck together."We are disappointed we did not make it, but we are proud of ourselves. We really want to go back home now and meet our families."

Winning the World Cup had meant a lot to Israel Dagg- with the tournament being a tough competition.

Dagg said:"It was pretty hard to win this thing. Being at home gave us a bit of an advantage and you can see today that it means a lot to New Zealand and it means a lot to our team."

Captain Richie McCaw was proud of his players and the way they played in the tournament.

McCaw said:"Every single man out there showed what it means to be an All Black."