Rugby Southland 4.9

Formed in 1887, Rugby Southland has forged a very proud tradition of teams known for their tenacity, grit and strength. Legends of the game such as Gerald Dermody, Southland's longest serving player in terms of games, who appeared 120 times for the province, Kevin Laidlaw, Leicester Rutledge, Ken Stewart, Paul Henderson, Simon Culhane and more recently Jimmy Cowan and Clarke Dermody are celebrated members of Southland's 54 All Black Representatives, all contributing towards Southland's reputation as one of the most revered Provincial Rugby Unions in New Zealand.

A tumultuous time in the mid 1990's saw Southland see-saw from second to first division and back again, until in 1997 a young Southland side cemented its place in the premier competition of New Zealand Rugby, where they have been competing ever since.

Rugby Southland as a Provincial Rugby Union provides all manner of services to rugby in the Southland region. This envelopes the day-to-day running of a club rugby competition throughout the club rugby season window for all 27 rugby clubs based in Southland, administering all school and junior rugby competitions, providing referees for all club rugby matches down to U10 level, providing coaching assistance to all rugby coaches, running the Southland Stag's Professional Rugby Team, conducting and providing representative rugby for twelve representative team, conducting all high performance aspects of rugby in our province such as the elite academy and training squads, and commercial and sponsorship aspects of a professional rugby side and provincial rugby union.

Rugby Southland is one of 27 key stakeholders of New Zealand Rugby, the governing body of all rugby in New Zealand, including the All Blacks.

Rugby Southland is managed by a Board of Directors, who govern a staff of 15, who are based at Rugby Southland's headquarters, at Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill.