[2] Their headquarters are at Rugby Park Stadium in Invercargill, which is also the home ground of the union's professional team, the Southland Stags who compete in the Mitre 10 Cup Championship Division and challenge for the Ranfurly Shield.

[3] Despite their proud history, no Southland team has ever won the top division of the New Zealand National Provincial Championship since organised competition began in 1976.

Southland also plays for the Donald Stuart Memorial Shield against rivals Otago in what is the longest tenured provincial rivalry in New Zealand first-class rugby, with 229 matches.

The side won 9-nil and it was McRobie's only game in the 'black jersey', however he occupies a special place in Southland Rugby history as the provinces first of over 50 All Blacks.

Others who kickstarted their career in Southland before moving where they became All Blacks Norm Hewitt, Pita Alatini, David Hill and Paul Miller.

In recent years such as 2021, Ethan De Groot has played three tests for the All Blacks For a province of its size, Southland's record against international teams is unmatched.

Their next Shield victory over Taranaki in 1959 would be their last for 51 years before the 2009 Southland side broke the drought by beating Canterbury 9-3 in Christchurch.

[4] Their six defences of the Shield proved to be some of the more iconic Shield games in the professional era including a 16-12 victory over arch-rivals Otago in front of a sold-out Rugby Park, and a 9-6 victory over Auckland days after the biggest snow storm ever recorded in the province led to fans having to shovel snow off the field the day before the game.

These Southland sides were not headlined by regular All Blacks like the teams from the 1930s and 1940s, instead they were made up mostly of locally grown talent educated at Southland Boys' High School such as captain Jamie Mackintosh, centurions Jason Rutledge, David Hall, Josh Bekhuis and Tim Boys, and future Scotland international John Hardie.

There are seven teams currently in Southland's premier competition; Marist, Blues, Pirates-Old Boys, Star, Woodlands, Midlands and the Eastern-Northern Barbarians whose players come from the clubs in the Eastern/Northern sub union.

There is currently an agreement in place for the Highlanders to play one regular season game per year at Rugby Park Stadium.