Defeat difficult to take for dominant Wales

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Sunday, October 18 2015 by SNTV

Script:

SOUNDBITE (English) Dan Biggar, Wales:
(Q. How difficult is it to get over that defeat?)

"Yeah. Very. Very difficult. We've just been knocked out in the last couple of minutes of a game which is always going to be hard to take. It's just absolutely heart-breaking in terms of the effort that we have put in and the injuries that we have had. Everything that we have faced in terms of getting over things. Preparation time with new players coming in. Like I say - there's no other way to describe it. It's heartbreaking. We are absolutely gutted in the changing room that we have just lost the quarter-final."

SOUNDBITE (English) Handre Pollard, South Africa:

"It was very physical. I thought they were very, very smart. They went down low and they got their flankers on the ball to slow our ball down. We're a momentum side. Everyone knows that. Once we go forward, it's hard to stop us. And they basically stopped us so hats off to them - great, great defensive effort."

SOUNDBITE (English) Scott Baldwin, Wales:

"I think we were guilty of giving away some silly possession. Trying the right game and trying to off-load at probably the wrong time. But again I thought that certain areas of our game were really good. I thought off kick offs Cuthy (Alex Cuthbert) especially, chased really well. And shut them down and we got a lot of reward from that. I think the turning point of the game was that one scrum where Vermeulen got the ball away. If we get him down there and keep the ball, I'd back our defence to stop them scoring like we did all day."

SOUNDBITE (English) Gareth Anscombe, Wales:

"Pretty glum. I guess the boys are pretty upset really. We set our goals to still be in this tournament and we were well in that game for a good 75 minutes. It's pretty tough in the changing rooms right now. The boys are pretty down and it certainly took a long time to shower out. One act of brilliance I suppose you could call it. And a bit of luck - which is what you need at this level and that was literally the difference between us. I thought that defensively the boys were outstanding. I take my hat off to the big boys upfront. Just an amazing effort. They are a very big South African side. They boys just kept tackling all day and really I don't think they created a hell of a lot on attack. Just a one-off bit of brilliance from the number eight - created a good off load and that was the difference."