BRISTOL - Head coach Allan Bunting, captain Kennedy Tukuafu, Stacey Waaka, Alana Bremner and Renee Holmes react after New Zealand's loss against Canada in the Rugby World Cup 2025 semi-final at Ashton Gate Stadium on Friday.

Captain, Kennedy Tukuafu

On her immediate reflections on the match:

"Firstly congratulations to Canada, they played a really good game out there. I think for us it came down to that discipline area, we weren't able to hold onto the ball to gain momentum. It was a tough game, they're a good side and unfortunately it wasn't our day today."

On whether the penalty count (Canada didn't concede a penalty until the 61st minute) was the biggest difference:

"Absolutely, you need to score points and you can't do that if you don't have the ball, so this one's going to hurt for a little while but we can be proud of the effort we put in out there, we had a good campaign, we've had a lot of fun as a team, our family all came over, spent a lot of money to come and support us, our whānau back home, all our fans back in New Zealand, we really appreciate the support, we felt it and unfortunately we couldn't do it today."

On whether the Canada performance represents a changing face of women's rugby:

"They were exceptional and it will be a great final. I think how far the women's game has come, it's pretty special to be part of this legacy, to see how big this tournament's been, the biggest there's ever been, so we can be proud of contributing to that."

Head coach, Allan Bunting

On the defeat to Canada:

"First congratulations to Kevin, Sophie and the Canada team, they were impressive tonight and we're gutted, gutted for the ladies, for our families and everyone who came over to support and all Aotearoa back at home. All I can say is our ladies didn't leave anything out there, they gave their absolute best. Canada were accurate today and we weren't, and that's the difference."

On Canada's fast start and the Blacks Ferns' error count:

"It comes down to the pressure. Our intent and our effort to do our best today (was there), I'm proud of that, they were just more accurate than us today."

On next steps for the Black Ferns:

"There's massive love in this team and we've still got another week left. We're going to do this World Cup proud. We're going to get back together, connect in. We've got another week and we're going to go and finish with mana."

Stacey Waaka

On where she felt the game was lost today:

"I think there were a few different parts. First of all was our breakdown area, Canada were really clinical. We knew that they were going to pick-and-go. We knew that they were hunting around our breakdown. That’s probably been a weakness for us, but happy for them. They obviously exploited us in that area, we weren’t fronting up. We’re probably a bit narrow in our defence at times, so sometimes we thought they were going to do a pick-and-go and they went out wide."

On how important it was to play until the final whistle:

"Anyone that represents their country knows that you fight right until the end no matter what the score. You have to be resilient. You have to show humility. You can’t give up, never give up. When you’re wearing that jersey, you fight to the death, for your family, for your friends, for your country. That was the game plan, to speed it up to try and score on a high. We knew we weren’t going to win, but we were just trying to win amazing moments and memories out there."

On how they will recover ahead of the bronze-medal match:

"Tomorrow we go back to an eight-day turnaround. We’ve obviously been on six-day turnarounds which means less training. We get a day off tomorrow, get to recover and to make sure the girls do what they need to get their bodies right. We need to just really feel gutted, feel sad and have that moment. That’s quite important because we care so much, but come Sunday, we get into London and we’re back to square one on Monday and back to a normal week’s training. We can’t give up, there’s no way we’re going to give up. We want to finish on a high."

Alana Bremner

On where they felt they lost the match:

"Canada is a quality side, their set-piece is great and we probably just couldn’t get the momentum. Coming in from half-time, it didn’t feel like anything went wrong necessarily. It was just we had no momentum, no routine. We just didn’t have enough of that tonight."

On whether she will enjoy some time off before returning to training:

"We’ll enjoy a day off tomorrow. A lot of our whãnua have come over from New Zealand, so getting to have that time with them as well as getting around each other is going to be really important. There’s a lot of feelings within the group, so just making sure we can rebuild and go into the bronze final."

On the message they sent trying to score until the final whistle:

"I was so proud of the way we fought until the very end; it’s in our DNA and I think you could just see the care and love for each other, we didn’t want to give up there. Phase after phase, you could see people giving it everything, they had been giving it everything for 80 minutes. Our captain was incredible out there, Ruahei (Demant) had her 50th cap and with all she does for this team, we’re gutted we couldn’t win this for us, but also for her today."

Renee Holmes

On what the players want fans at home to know:

"We’ve felt the love, we’ve felt the support from back home. We’re absolutely gutted we couldn’t get this done for you guys, but thank you so much for backing us and believing in us. We’ve got one more week ahead of us, so thank you."

On how hard it was to get the game going at the beginning:

"Yeah, it was tough. We knew exactly what was coming and they executed their defence and their scrum was phenomenal today. We would make half reaches and half breaks but there would always be a red jersey there so big up to them for putting that pressure on us in the first 20 because that first 20 was very important."