| Home team | Southland Stags |
| Away team | Otago |
| Venue | Invercargill Rugby Park |
| Competition | NPC |
| Kick-off time | 6:05 am (UK) 5:05 pm (NZ) |
| Watch Live in the UK | Sky Sports |
Southland Stags vs Otago NPC round one preview as the sides meet on Invercargill to open their campaigns in the competition.
Read more match previews for all your rugby action here
Southland vs Otago confirmed lineups
| Southland | Otago | ||||
| Forwards | |||||
| Sexton | 1 | Lopas | |||
| Taylor | 2 | Bell | |||
| Fa’agase | 3 | Wingham | |||
| Dunshea | 4 | Stodart | |||
| Aho | 5 | Tomani | |||
| Halaholo | 6 | Haig | |||
| Withy | 7 | Casey | |||
| Fischli | 8 | Lio-Willie | |||
| Backs | |||||
| Shearer | 9 | McClea | |||
| J Taylor | 10 | Millar | |||
| Taniyama | 11 | Nareki | |||
| Gregory | 12 | Te Hiwi | |||
| Samusamuvodre | 13 | Timu | |||
| Manson | 14 | Bloomfield | |||
| Vaihu | 15 | Nemec-Vial | |||
| Replacements | |||||
| Henderson | 16 | Coltman | |||
| Barrett | 17 | Pearce | |||
| Latu | 18 | Ma’u | |||
| Ahokovi | 19 | Irving | |||
| Toleafoa | 20 | Lokotui | |||
| Marsh | 21 | Lam | |||
| Jennings | 22 | Pellegrini | |||
| Lankshear | 23 | Lucas | |||
Recent Form:
Southland (Home team):
| Result | Date | Competition | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 3rd October 2025 | NPC | North Harbour | 15-14 |
| Loss | 26th September 2025 | NPC | Tasman | 38-55 |
| Loss | 20th September 2025 | NPC | Wellington | 75-19 |
| Loss | 14th September 2025 | NPC | Counties Manukau | 10-64 |
| Loss | 6th September 2025 | NPC | Canterbury | 14-54 |
Southland missed out on the playoffs by losing their final five games in a row. They had started with three wins from their opening five. They only scored more than 20 points on one occasion in the final five games.
Otago (Away team):
| Result | Date | Competition | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 25th October 2025 | NPC Playoffs | Canterbury | 36-28 |
| Won | 17th October 2025 | NPC Playoffs | Bay of Plenty | 41-17 |
| Won | 10th October 2025 | NPC Playoffs | Waikato | 44-41 |
| Won | 3rd October 2025 | NPC | Auckland | 17-51 |
| Won | 26th September 2025 | NPC | North Harbour | 41-26 |
Otago finished last season as runners up losing out to Canterbury in the final having been one point behind them in the regular season. They won eight out of 10 games in the competition.
Southland Stags vs Otago head-to-head record (last five matches):
| Date | Competition | Winner | Score |
| 2nd August 2025 | NPC | Otago | 15-24 |
| 10th August 2024 | NPC | Southland | 22-13 |
| 26th August 2023 | NPC | Otago | 31-21 |
| 21st August 2022 | NPC | Otago | 32-37 |
| 7th August 2021 | NPC | Otago | 26-19 |
Otago have won four of their last five games against their local rivals Southland. The last five meetings have been decided by 10 or few points each time.
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