For the SIT Zero Fees Southland Stags, there nothing better than a win on home ground in front of thousands of proud Southland supporters – and that’s exactly what they delivered last night.

The crowd at Rugby Park erupted into cheers as the end of game time alarm was sounded – signalling an epic win over their Otago rivals 32-15 to the Stags.

This is the first time the Stags have beaten Otago since 2013. 

The victorious team played a strong game right through, barely letting Otago have the lead at all.

At half time Otago was up 15-10 but, soon into the second half, the Stags quickly scored another try, securing a comfortable lead for the rest of the game.

For the Southland Stags to make it to the Mitre 10 Cup semi-finals – they will still need to win their game against Counties Manukau in Auckland next weekend.

However, a spokesman said last night’s result was “the best result [the Stags] could have got”.

It will all be on next week to see if they can continue their momentum and bring Southland to the semi finals.

Bring on the roar.