"It has been a tough six weeks, and about to get tougher."
The vanquished Wallabies were quick to share their disappointment with their fans after Sunday night's loss to the All Blacks at Eden Park, using their Twitter accounts to tweet their sorrows to the world.
Lock James Horwill, who was a late choice to lead the Wallabies through the tournament, was gracious in defeat.
"Feel truly gutted. Hard to find words to describe the feeling. The All Blacks were too good and deserved to win."
Young teammate James O'Connor couldn't decide if he was speechless or not, such was the depth of his despair.
"Speechless, could be worst feeling ever. Absolutely gutted! The All Blacks [were] just too good tonight - played great rugby and deserved the win."
Although maybe O'Connor really was stuck for original thought. A tweet from the account of Wallaby twins Saia and Ant Faingaa was strikingly similar: "Worst feeling ever, absolutely gutted! All Blacks [were] just too good tonight. Thanks to everyone tonight for the great supports, you were awesome."
Winger Drew Mitchell congratulated the All Blacks on their success, then checked back on Monday morning feeling somewhat the worse for wear.
"Feels like I've woken up on the set of a certain blockbuster movie," he tweeted while referring to the Hollywood comedy The Hangover.
Thumb twiddlers
At least the Wallabies still had rugby to tweet about. Back in the United Kingdom, the English players have been adjusting to life away from the high-pressure Rugby World Cup environment.
Kiwi-born hooker Dylan Hartley wanted to make it clear he was a manly man, after he tweeted that he wore Ugg boots, the fleecy footwear made famous by Hollywood sex symbol Pamela Anderson.
"Sorry - I meant steel caps on," he joked. "What was I thinking."
"Nice to be back at my house in Leicester but I'm so bored already," tweeted halfback Ben Youngs.
"What to do? Bored."
Teammate Richard Wigglesworth would rather be playing the beautiful game on his console, according to his tweet to fellow back Ben Foden.
"You stole my FIFA 12. I'm getting withdrawal symptoms."
Boyos brighten up
The Welsh players have had mixed feelings since they were taken out of the running in controversial fashion by an unimaginative French team. They indulged in some adventure tourism on their days off before they knuckle down to the task of preparing for Friday's third-place playoff against the Wallabies.
Dan Lydiate told a mate he was "gutted" at the result.
The flanker said he had a "good laugh" quad biking on Waiheke Island with his Welsh teammates, which reminded him of being at home.
Centre Scott Williams said he was "shitting it" as he prepared to jump from the Sky Tower.
The activities were just the ticket for centre Jamie Roberts, who couldn't hide his heartbreak after Saturday's semi-final defeat.
"Chilled couple of days," he tweeted yesterday.
"Waiheke Island yesterday, and somehow managed to hurl myself 192m off the Auckland Sky Tower this afternoon. Epic!"
Outspoken, still speaking
Samoa's Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu continued to tweet his grievances over how he felt his team was treated during the tournament:
"They think we're stupid and treat us accordingly. Worse yet, they want you to believe it. Don't. Brilliance is in us all. Release it."
The outspoken centre, who received a fine and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service after using Twitter as a platform to publicly criticise the International Rugby Board, last night explained how he planned to use some of his time with Samoan rugby's high performance unit.
"First 10 hours, 'How to use Twitter'."
