The Bulls beat Aoraki Eels 54-6 at Ngā Puna Wai last Saturday to stay unbeaten in the South Island championship after beating West Coast Chargers the week prior.
Southland also have two wins under their belt after beating Aoraki and West Coast in the last two weeks.
The match will be played at Oamaru’s Centennial Park to save Canterbury, the away team, from having to travel as far as Invercargill.
Southland played West Coast at the same venue last weekend for the same reason.
The top team at the end of the championship will play North Island winners Wellington in two weeks, with the winner of that game earning promotion back to the national premiership in 2025.
Canterbury head coach Walt Wilson said Southland was a bit of an unknown quantity.
“There’s limited coverage of the games. In the first division you’ve got the luxury of watching other teams play on Sky, but we haven’t got that benefit,” he said.
“We try to find out what we can about the opposition, but we’re just going to have to control what we can control ourselves and make sure that we implement the game plan we want to play.”
He thought the two games they’d played so far had prepared them well.
“The boys showed a hell of a lot of character on the coast, and then they were able to experience the way we want to play rugby league (against Aoraki).
“The confidence after the weekend, I think it should be high.”
Wilson said the team was fighting hard to try and return to the premiership after their relegation last year.
“It’s really important for Canterbury rugby league to get back to that first division, and these boys are really hungry to make that happen.
“When you look at all of the history, it just doesn’t seem right that Canterbury’s not up there at the moment.”
The Canterbury women’s team will be looking to pick themselves up from their first loss of the season when they take on Auckland Vulcans at Cromwell Park on Sunday.
They went down to Akarana Falcons 36-20 last Sunday, getting blown away in the second half after being just 18-14 down at half-time.
Canterbury sits fourth in the women’s premiership after a win and a loss in their opening two games.
