North Otago chief executive Colin Jackson confirmed his team would play Southland on July 9, in a Friday night game in Invercargill.
Jackson said he was grateful Southland had accepted North Otago as its first challenge and said the side would hopefully perform better than last time it challenged for the shield.
North Otago was beaten by shield-holder Auckland 113-3 in a challenge in July last year at Oamaru.
"We want to be as competitive as possible. I would hope we would perform better than we did last time against Auckland," Jackson said.
The match against Southland would hopefully be televised, he said, and would start at 7.35pm.
The All Blacks play South Africa in Auckland the following night.
Jackson said he hoped to organise a warm-up game for North Otago but that all depended on the availability of club players, as the club season would be in full swing.
North Otago won the Lochore Cup and it has become the custom for the shield-holder to play the Lochore Cup and the Meads Cup winners in early-season shield matches.
Jackson said the union was still having discussions with coach Mike Mullins over whether he would continue in the role.
Mullins is keen to continue.
A review was about to be undertaken and Jackson said though North Otago did win the Lochore Cup, it was disappointed it did not make it into the Meads Cup play-offs.
By not making the Meads Cup, North Otago could not be in the running for promotion to the new first division.
Southland took the Ranfurly Shield off Canterbury in the last game of the round robin of the Air New Zealand Cup, so would hold the shield over the summer.
With a final decision yet to be made on what unions are to be cut from the 14-team top division, it is unlikely the draw for next year's competition will be released until the new year.
Otago played Southland in Dunedin last season so should have a game in Invercargill next season, although that is by no means a certainty.
