Southland (National Provincial Championship) Explained

Teamname:	Southland
Union:	Rugby Southland
Nickname:	Stags
Location:	Georgetown, Invercargill, New Zealand
Ground:	Rugby Park Stadium
Capacity:	18,000
Ceo:	Steve Mitchell^[1]
Coach:	Dale MacLeod
Captain:	Josh Bekhuis
Appearances:	Jason Rutledge (143)
Top Scorer:	Simon Culhane (980)
Most Tries:	Bruce Pascoe (46)
League:	Bunnings NPC
Season:	2023
Position:	14th
Pattern La1:	_darkblueborder
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Pattern Ra1:	_darkblueborder
Pattern So1:	_whitestripe
Leftarm1:	7B1113
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Url:	http://www.rugbysouthland.co.nz/

Southland (often known as the Southland Stags) are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Invercargill, New Zealand. The union was originally established in 1887, with the National Provincial Championship established in 1976. They now play in the reformed National Provincial Championship competition. They play their home games at Rugby Park Stadium in Invercargill in the Southland region. The team is affiliated with the Highlanders Super Rugby franchise. Their home playing colours are maroon and gold.

Current squad

The Southland Stags squad for the 2023 Bunnings NPC is:^[2]

Southland Stags squad
Props Jonah Aoina Shunsuke Asaoka Ethan de Groot Hunter Fahey ^REP Quinn Harrison-Jones Paula Latu Morgan Mitchell Jack Sexton ^REP Shaun Stodart Hamdahn Tuipulotu ^REP Joe Walsh Hookers Jacob Payne Nic Souchon ^REP Ben Strang Jack Taylor Locks Josh Bekhuis (c) Danny Drake Mike McKee Shneil Singh	Loose forwards Jacob Coghlan Leroy Ferguson Grayson Knapp Hayden Michaels Dylan Nel Blair Ryall Semisi Tupou Ta'eiloa Half-backs (scrum-halves) Liam Howley Connor McLeod ^REP Jay Renton Kaisei Tamura ^REP Jahvis Wallace First five-eighths (fly-halves) Marty Banks Greg Dyer Dan Hollinshead	Midfielders (centres) Scott Gregory Tevita Latu Angus Simmers Matt Whaanga Outside backs Viliami Fine Noah Foster Gabriel Hamer-Webb Michael Manson Rintaro Maruyama Rory van Vugt
(c) Denotes team captain, Bold denotes internationally capped, ^REP denotes a replacement squad player, ^INJ denotes an injured player.

Honours

Southland have never been overall Champions. Their full list of honours, though, include:^{[3] [4]}

National Provincial Championship Second Division South Island

• Winners: 1982, 1984

National Provincial Championship Second Division

• Winners: 1989, 1994, 1996

Current Super Rugby players

Players named in the 2023 Southland Stags squad, who also earned contracts or were named in a squad for any side participating in the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season.^{[5] [6] [7] [8]}

Player	Team
Marty Banks
Josh Bekhuis
Ethan de Groot
Scott Gregory
Mike McKee
Jack Taylor
Matt Whaanga

External links

• Official site

Notes and References

1. Web site: Board and Staff. Rugby Southland. 10 September 2020.
2. News: SBS Bank Southland Stags Squad Named for 2023 Bunnings Warehouse NPC . Rugby Southland . 10 July 2023 . 15 July 2023.
3. Web site: National Provincial Championship winners, 1976–2014. Te Ara. 17 September 2020.
4. Web site: Mitre 10 Cup. Rugby Heartland. 17 September 2020.
5. Highlanders 2023 Squad Announcement . Highlanders . 26 October 2022 . 26 October 2022.
6. Highlanders Named to Play Force in Invercargill . Highlanders . 17 March 2023 . 18 March 2023.
7. Highlanders named to play Fijian Drua . Highlanders . 23 March 2023 . 23 March 2023.
8. Web site: Match Centre - Super Rugby - Highlanders vs. Reds . SANZAAR . 26 May 2023.