All Blacks left emotional after beating Scotland as unique Haka move explained amid injury fears

The message from New Zealand after beating Scotland 43-21 at Murrayfield was clear: that was for Logan.

Visibly emotional in their post-match press conference, head coach Dave Rennie and captain Codie Taylor paid tribute to their head of security Logan Cadwallader, who passed away in Edinburgh during the build-up to this Test match.

Cadwallader was a popular figure in the New Zealand camp. His sudden passing rocked this tight-knit group of players, who held it together to maintain their unbeaten run over Scotland, which now stands at 34 matches.

The New Zealand players perform the Haka before defeating Scotland at Murrayfield. | SNS Group / SRU

“I'm a little proud because it was an important day for us,” said Rennie. “I thought the boys fronted up well. Like as we talked about, it's a tough week, a massive emotional toll on the group. You would have seen some players visibly upset on the final whistle. They're proud to get through that.

“I'm happy that for Logan, we got a good result tonight.”

Taylor had to compose himself when asked if he thought Cadwallader would have been proud of New Zealand’s performance.

“Yeah, we wanted to win for him,” said Taylor. ”This week's been a lot bigger than rugby. It's about acknowledging one of our brothers that had fallen and a husband and father, son, who was highly respected in our group.

“And to be able to go there tonight and get the result, you know, 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 home.”

Even the New Zealand players who weren’t listed in the 23-man squad took part in the Haka - something very rarely seen by the All Blacks.

“I wasn't actually aware at the time,” admitted Taylor. “But I talked to Richie [McCaw], and what I know is that everyone wanted to pull the jersey on tonight. But obviously, that can't happen. So from what I hear, their thinking was, we want to be part of the Haka because we can actually pay our respects that way.

“So I wasn't aware. But to hear that just goes to show the connection of the group and how much Logan meant to us.”

New Zealand suffered in the first half. They conceded eight penalties in the final 20 minutes and were briefly down to 13 men. They clung on to a three-point lead at the break, went into the sheds and discussed what to improve upon. They scored 19 unanswered points in the second period.

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

“We had a couple of yellow cards. We were confident that if we looked after the ball better, defend better, don't give away penalties ... we were well aware the penalty count was 5-0 and then it was 8-5 at halftime. So yeah, it was one of the things we talked about at half-time.

“Our scrum was excellent. It gave us a platform to apply a bit of pressure. You know, there's a couple of times where maybe we should have done better. And there's a couple of times where we tried to throw blind offloads.”

New Zealand head to Cardiff to face Wales next weekend and they could be without two key players. Winger Will Jordan tweaked his hamstring, while Geordie Barrett failed an HIA after a sickening collision with Blair Kinghorn.

“Will tweaked his hammy and we will assess that,” said Rennie. “So I'm not sure of the severity of it. Geordie failed his assessment, so I'm not sure whether he'll be available this week, but we'll get a bit of clarity.”

Taylor admitted the concession of line-out maul tries to the Scots hurt him. “Every game against Scotland here has usually been pretty tight,” added Taylor. “And it's just the way they play. You know, they want to get downhill. They're physical.

“They back their set piece. They got a couple more tries, which hurts as a forward. But you've always got to expect Scotland's best when you come here, especially the record that they probably want to grab onto or beat.

“But we're still growing. You know, like Dave said, some things we'll be happy with, but some things we'll want to critique and make better for Wales.”