After 84 games and thousands of kilometres of travelling, it all goes on the line in Invercargill this afternoon.
Southland Boys plays Waitaki Boys at Rugby Park at 5pm today in the final of the Highlanders First XV competition.
The sides are evenly matched, with one win apiece from their two meetings this season.
Waitaki Boys beat Southland Boys 18-5 in the round-robin fixture in Oamaru, with the Invercargill-based side gaining revenge in the top-four game, winning 8-3 in wet conditions at home in the Zero Fees-sponsored competition.
Waitaki Boys coach Barry Matthews said the side had set a goal at the start of the year of making the top four, so getting all the way to the final was a bonus.
He said the team would not lack for motivation but needed to do the little things right.
"We just have to do the basics well. Most finals are pretty tense affairs so we have to handle that the right way. We've got to make sure we do the little things well," he said.
Matthews said his squad was fit and raring to go, although there were a couple of players under injury clouds after the victory last week over South Otago.
The squad travelled to Invercargill yesterday, having been there and to Balclutha in the past three weeks.
Matthews said a busload of supporters was making the trip to Invercargill.
A school musical programme scheduled for this week had been postponed so the school could get right behind the team.
Southland Boys coach Peter Skelt said the sides were very evenly matched and there was not likely to be much in the match.
"It may just come down to who executes better and adapts well to the conditions," he said.
If the scores are tied at full-time, two 10-minute periods of extra time will be played.
If the deadlock has not been broken at the end of extra time, the winner will be the scorer of the most tries in the game.
If the try tally is even, Southland Boys will be the winner, as it finished higher in the round-robin section.
The match is the curtain-raiser to the Air New Zealand Cup match between Southland and Hawkes Bay.
Southland Boys has everyone available except lock Zane Neustroski, who was sent off a couple of weeks ago and is still suspended.
The winner of the game will play St Bedes College, of Christchurch, next Saturday for the right to represent the South Island in the secondary schools top four competition.
That game will be hosted by the winner of today's match.
Dunstan will play Gore in the final of the middle four in Alexandra tomorrow, while Central Southland will play John McGlashan in Winton in the final of the bottom four, also tomorrow.
