After six brilliant weeks of rugby, check out some of the best quotes from this World Cup, courtesy of World Rugby.

“We can’t come to a war with our hands and a pocket knife, we’ve got to bring all we’ve got and face up.”
– all’s fair in love and rugby for Samoa coach Stephen Betham, preparing to throw it all at the Springboks

“I don’t think ‘Check’ even knew there were bonus points in the tournament.”
– Scott Fardy on devil-may-care Michael Cheika after the Wallabies failed to score four tries against Fiji

“No one died.”
– South Africa captain Jean de Villiers keeping it real, though obviously he’d have preferred not to have been on the wrong end of what felt like a thumping from Japan

“I went to mass this morning and even the priest came out and put his hands up in the air to celebrate. That’s when you know you are making a difference to the nation.”
– Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards on reaction to their victory over England in a land that treats rugby as a religion

“Next time I’m getting upset, we’ll go under the showers.”
– France coach Philippe Saint-Andre’s Plan B after footage surfaced of him laying into his players at half-time against Romania

“If you want a strong child make sure they get brought up on a dairy farm, deliver the papers every morning, drink 10 beers a night. You should do a documentary on longevity – milk, newspapers and beer.” 
– the incomparable Japan coach Eddie Jones on 37-year-old Hitoshi Ono, who won his 96th cap against Samoa

“Sit back, enjoy and criticise and be like Clive Woodward and get a job on the television. That’s my dream.”
– Sir Clive had better watch it. Punditry could prove to be Eddie’s strongest suit

“Yes, it’s a very humbling part of the game. You can dominate one day and get your pants pulled down on another.”
– Getting to the bottom of it… after victory over England, coach Cheika on Australia’s scrum

“It’s not just the group of death, it’s the group of hell.”
– coach Warren Gatland after Wales were guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals by virtue of Australia’s win over England

 “We talked about what we wanted to do at half-time. It must have been a terrible speech.”
– Canada coach Kieran Crowley (NZL) on squandering a commanding first-half lead against Romania

“What do you think it’s like? It’s f***ing horrible.”
– and his captain Jamie Cudmore, just as candid, on the mood in the dressing room

“We’re going to lace up our boots the same way they do. It’s sport “
– USA assistant coach Chris O’Brien on facing the resurgent Springboks 

“I think the boys might have had one too many knocks to the head.”
– Wales back-row James King has his own theory on why some teammates claim they saw ghostly figures at the team hotel

“We play a similar style of rugby to England but we have better-looking players.”
– Springbok hooker Schalk Brits on why fans of the host nation should switch allegiance to South Africa

“I had to treat it with a bit of respect. You only get one head.”
– Scotland flanker John Hardie takes a pragmatic view of his concussion

“Cash is always good.”
– Namibia coach Phil Davies on what is required to take his team’s rugby to the next level

“I had breakfast with my wife for the first time in how long. At least I still think she’s my wife – I don’t know if she still thinks I’m her husband.” 
– Jones, again, the morning after the night when Japan went out of RWC 2015 

 “It went on for nearly 14 months, so you have to put things into perspective and say that something could fall off tomorrow.”
– Ireland lock Donnacha Ryan casually Pythonesque about his injuries

“Might have been nice.”
– Vern Cotter, the Scotland coach, on whether Australia’s match-winning penalty should have been referred to the TMO

 “Someone threw a bottle at him, didn’t they? I’d be racing off too if I saw a bottle coming.”
– meanwhile, Cheika empathises with referee Craig Joubert’s early exit after the dramatic win over Scotland

“They didn’t just stick the knife in, they put it in and turned it and the French felt the full wrath.”
– Springbok Jannie du Plessis, a qualified medical doctor, commends New Zealand’s clinical treatment of France

“He’s a beautiful man. I always told him that when he was at Toulon.”
– Australia’s Matt Giteau revealing his admiration for Argentina’s Juan Martin Fernandez 

 “This is probably the best team that’s ever played the game.”
– magnanimous to a fault, South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer on New Zealand who proceeded to turn over his team in the semi-final

“He has been praising us all week. But I bet they are getting ready to rip our heads off.”
– keep your friends close… All Blacks coach Steve Hansen sceptical about his mate Meyer’s comments

“We are going to bash each other for 80 minutes and then enjoy a good chat and maybe a beer afterwards.”
– South Africa’s Duane Vermeulen on facing the All Blacks in – and after – the semi

“A talent hits a target no one else can hit, but a genius hits a target no one else can see.”
– in a cliche-ridden world, South Africa assistant coach Johan van Graan’s refreshingly profound words for Fourie du Preez

“It is like kissing your sister.”
– Meyer on the consolation of playing in the bronze final, which South Africa went on to win

“I have seen this movie before and it’s bloody horrible.”
– after being edged out by two points, Schalk Burger won’t be watching videos of South Africa v New Zealand any time soon

“The thighs got hit with a tsunami of lactic acid.”
– Australia wing Drew Mitchell explains how his legs felt at the end of his electrifying run which set up Adam Ashley-Cooper’s semi-final hat-trick

“We’re finding there’s a very diverse range of players and some players are whizzing around on Segways after a match and he’s in his room watching a David Attenborough documentary.”
– Wallabies captain Stephen Moore on David Pocock, apparently a quite different kind of cat

“We’re not all guys who are camped out by the billabong with a cork hat.”
– and from Cheika, scorning the stereotypes again

“I think Richie McCaw is the greatest All Black we have ever had and Dan (Carter) is a close second.”
– his opposite number All Blacks coach Steve Hansen on the great and the good in his World Cup winning team

“It’s been a chance to show people that we are not the big bad ogres we are presented to be in the media.”
– Hansen, again, and the All Blacks us-against-them philosophy writ large

“We have started something so I think it would be rude not to finish it.”
– down but not out, Tatafu Polota-Nau on Cheika’s influence on the Wallabies

“Education is important. Rugby is importanter.”
– and the final word from a T-shirt wearing Wales fan in Cardiff. Obviously