Dave Rennie pleased with Stormers win but admits All Blacks need to improve

The victory gave the All Blacks a winning start to the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry tour, their first tour of South Africa in 30 years, but it was far from a straightforward one.

The All Blacks were made to work hard for their opening victory, with a Stormers side missing several frontline stars refusing to let the visitors take control.

Nevertheless, Rennie was pleased with the way his players responded to the Stormers' challenge and maintained their composure when the result was still in the balance, allowing them to pull away in the end.

The All Blacks' victory was tempered by an injury to centre Billy Proctor, however, who was forced from the field after suffering a shoulder problem.

"It was a good introduction for us to South African rugby," Rennie told reporters after the match, which was played in front of a crowd of over 47 000.

"We started very well and it looked like which side had the ball got rewarded by the referee.

"When we had the ball we were really dangerous. We knew they would bring line speed (in defence). We just weren't quite clinical enough to expose them.

"They came at us with their set-piece and we need to be better in those areas. We expected a lot of aerial attacks and we probably did not handle that as well as we could have."

Rennie said his side's character shone through in the closing stages.

"Just a heap of character, we are very well conditioned. I felt if we could hold onto the ball, we would hurt them," Rennie said.

"Both sides were pretty competitive post-tackle. We will have sides who try to slow our ball down. We carried and cleaned well (at the ruck). What we knew was we had to be accurate. If we could do that we would find space.

"We have got some tough footie into them (the players) tonight and they will be better for that. Tours like this will test our depth and heading into a World Cup next year and we will know better what we have."