NEW ZEALAND 24-7 TONGA
Captain DJ Forbes (NZL)
On making it through to the Cup quarter finals:
“I guess we had a few good wins coming into this game but we still let a few bad tries through our defence so that is disappointing. But compared to our last few tournaments this was a good way to finish off our pool games.
“It has almost gone to plan. We have worked on a few things from the last two tournaments and we have been hit by injuries during them so that has definitely got to have an impact on us. We let through those tries and our coach is very strict on our defence so we will look back at that footage and work through it to cut out mistakes.”
On their targets now that they have made it through to the quarter finals:
“We don’t like to look too far ahead. We haven’t won yet so we are definitely looking to do something special. But as far as the quarter final is concerned tomorrow, we just have two lots of seven minutes and we will see how that goes. We will try to put in a good performance and see what happens.
“England and South Africa are easily the favourites and I think Samoa and Fiji are also the ones doing well undercover and no one has noticed them fully yet so we come into the quarters as underdogs. We are behind on the leaderboard so we will try our best and see what happens."
ARABIAN GULF 17-19 ITALY
Arabian Gulf's Sean Hurley
On the last-gasp defeat by Italy:
"Gutted, what can I say. The boys worked really hard for this but some days the ball bounces the other way and it did for us today."
On whether there were any positives from the match:
"We held our structure and played to our game plan. Our defence was quite good. A lot of teams try to bust us through the middle but we take a lot of pride in our line and work hard on defence. As much as attack wins games, defence does as well. We’re going to work on slowing it down a little bit more, sticking to our game plan and doing the best we can."
TONGA 31-10 ITALY
Siaosi Tuatao (KEN)
On the victory over Italy and looking ahead to New Zealand:
"We did what we wanted to do. In the first half we did exactly what we planned to do but against New Zealand, who knows."
On the players who have impressed him:
"(Vaea T) Poteki, (Mateo) Malupo and (Peasipa) Moimoi and our speedsters out wide on the wings."
On the playing conditions:
"Today it is more like back home so we're so finding it all right."
NEW ZEALAND 41-5 ARABIAN GULF
Captain DJ Forbes (NZL)
On the Arabian Gulf playing well in the first half:
"I guess we always knew they were going to come out fighting, being their home crowd and all, and they were up for it. It was just a case of sticking to our guns and holding out, riding out the storm. Two wins now, we've got to be happy."
On the eight-hour gap to their next match against Tonga:
"We have got to look at it both ways. Eight hours is a long time but that is the way the cookie crumbles. That is the way they set it up but we will make the most of it and have a good rest."
On what areas they need to improve in against Tonga:
"You know we will obviously be working hard on our 'D' (defence). They will be confrontational and like the physical stuff, so that will be a test for us to see if we can match it and use the ball. If we limit our mistakes from the first two games - you know, a few lapses on 'D' and a few 50-50 mistakes - then we should come through."
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