The game has been a traditional fixture for the two sides over the past few years - a final warm-down before the real competition starts, this year labelled the Mitre 10 Cup.
But, and this is a big but, the two sides will meet in 10 days in the opening round of the domestic competition. So logic would suggest neither team is going to show its full wares in today's game.
Inevitably the side which comes out on the losing side will just say it was a game of little importance, while the winner will take some confidence for the match in Invercargill on August 21 but knows it will ultimately have no bearing on the match that matters.
The game had been organised for months and Otago coach Cory Brown said there was no thought about cancelling it once the draw for the Mitre 10 Cup came out.
''We just will take it as it comes and just get out there and be prepared to play Southland. I'm not sure we will show all of our cards but we are certainly going out there to win,'' he said.
''We're in Queenstown, in a beautiful part of the world and, hopefully, we get a good game between two good teams.''
Otago has been training in Queenstown since the beginning of the week and has been visiting rugby clubs and locals to spread the word about the side.
The team has been working on its defence which, under the new laws, is going to be very important over the next couple of months. Getting the ball off teams is going to be next to impossible at breakdown time, so making tackles and not sliding off attackers is the key.
Southland has had a disrupted pre-season. It had a game set up against South Canterbury last week but ended up not making the trip north because of the state of the roads and was forced to play against its B side and Otago B in two halves in Invercargill.
Somewhat surprisingly, Southland lost the half against Southland B though it did get the better of a depleted Otago B side. It had earlier lost to a Sassenachs side last month in Dunedin so needs to start putting some results on the board.
It is the start of a new era for Southland with the departure of long-term stalwarts such as Josh Bekhuis, Jason Rutledge and Jamie Mackintosh.
Halfback Jimmy Cowan, after initially appearing to hang up his boots, is back in the Southland jersey. And there are plenty of familiar names to those acquainted with premier rugby in Dunedin.
Loose forwards Mika Mafi (Southern) and Josh Clarke (Pirates) started the club season in Dunedin, as did midfield back Aleki Morris (Harbour). First five-eighth Greg Dyer (Dunedin) has also played plenty of club rugby in the city as has former Otago representative Kieran Moffat.
Otago looked reasonably slick on attack last week playing as the Sassenachs against the Cantabrians and will want to improve its intensity around the breakdown and lift the accuracy of its passing.
Brown will have his side fairly settled for the opening game of the Mitre 10 Cup but there are openings in the inside backs and front row while the make-up of the loose forwards is still very much open to question.
