Dave Rennie was “proud” of his All Blacks players after they honoured the memory of Logan Cadwallader by defeating Scotland on Saturday.

New Zealand were left heartbroken by the tragic passing of their head of security, who had been in the role for 10 years, at the team hotel in Edinburgh a week before the clash at Murrayfield.

Rennie stated that it had taken a “massive emotional toll” on the whole group after they defeated the Scots 43-21 on Saturday.

The All Blacks were tested by the hosts in the first half, with just three points separating the teams at the interval, but they raised their game to dominate the second period.

‘A tough week’

“I’m proud because it was an important day for us. I thought the boys barred up well. If you looked at the game itself, there was probably ill-discipline first half, a couple of yellow cards, you give Scotland opportunities,” Rennie told reporters.

“We were better second half, we went to a contestable kick game to limit their time from a counter-attack point of view. We were a lot more clinical and we dominated territory a bit better.

“Not as clinical today as we have been, we just lost our shape a couple of times and from turnover we had two or three gilt-edged opportunities that we spilt.

“I thought we defended really well second half, a lot of brutality, a lot of time in tackle which gave us more time to get organised, which was better.

“It’s a tough week, a massive emotional toll on the group and you would have seen some players visibly upset on the final whistle.

“Proud of the men to get through that.”

Codie Taylor’s tribute

Rennie was joined in the press conference by All Blacks captain Codie Taylor, who paid tribute to Cadwallader

“We wanted to win for him. This week’s been a lot bigger than rugby, it’s about acknowledging one of our brothers that has fallen, and a husband, father, son who was highly respected within our group,” Taylor said.

“To be able to go out there and get the result, there was a lot of emotion in the anthem and looking across to the management how much they were feeling it as well, so there was definitely a bit more of a motivation there to front up in the jersey and represent him.”