All Blacks reserves join haka as team dedicates win to late head of security

The All Blacks capped an emotional week in Edinburgh with a win, and dedicated it to their late head of security, Logan Cadwallader, who passed away last Sunday after a medical event at the team’s hotel.

The match began with Cadwallader’s son and brother joining the team as flag bearers during the national anthems, before the reserves joined the matchday 23 in performing the haka from the sideline.

It was a messy Test, but New Zealand tidied up some indiscipline in the second half to pull away with a comfortable win, scoring seven tries to Scotland’s three.

Following the Test, Cadwallader was top of mind for the players.

“We wanted to win for him,” captain Codie Taylor told reporters. “Like I said earlier, this week’s been a lot bigger than rugby. It’s about acknowledging one of our brothers that has fallen: a husband, a father, a son, who was highly respected in our group.

“To be able to go out there tonight and get the result – I 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 and represent the jersey and represent him.”

Tupou Vaa’i called Cadwallader, who served as the team’s head of security for 10 years, the team’s “unsung hero” and was proud to claim a win in his honour.

“For all of us to do that for Caddy shows how important he was to us as a group. We love Caddy so much, it was awesome for us to do that for him.”

Beauden Barrett said that “it took days to even contemplate wanting to play a game of rugby”, but they were encouraged to ride the waves of emotion so they could come around by the end of the week and lock in for the Test. The fullback, who equalled Richie McCaw for the second-most Test appearances in All Blacks history and scored two tries in the match, also said he took inspiration from Cadwallader’s military background, treating the game as a mission to be completed regardless of the emotions involved.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by All Blacks (@allblacks)

The 13 squad members not selected to take the pitch at Murrayfield were also eager to honour Cadwallader, and decided to perform Ka Mate on the sidelines as the selected players did in centrefield.

“I wasn’t actually aware at the time, but I talked to Richie, and what I know is that everyone wanted to pull the jersey on tonight. Obviously that can’t happen, so from what I hear, their thinking was ‘we want to be a part of the haka because we can actually pay our respects that way.

“It just goes to show the connection of the group and how much Loges meant to us.”