Otago rugby great and former All Blacks coach Laurie Mains and broadcasting identity Murray Deaker are the special guests at a pre-test function at the club.
It calls to mind the glory days at Bathgate Park when the club hosted "tent villages" as wildly successful gatherings before and after afternoon Bledisloe Cup tests at nearby Carisbrook.
This event will be in the evening of August 4 at the Southern club and will feature Deaker talking about his career followed by him interviewing Mains.
Both hold a special place with the Magpies faithful.
Mains was a Southern fullback who went on to play 114 games for Otago (1967-75) and four tests for the All Blacks.
He then built a hugely successful coaching career at club and provincial level before a four-year stint with the All Blacks that introduced Jonah Lomu to the world and all but ended in World Cup glory.
Deaker did not have quite the same level of success in the sport but he did play a couple of games alongside Mains for Otago in 1968.
He represented the Southern club from the age of 8 until he was 25, and he attended King’s High School.
As a broadcaster, Deaker reigned supreme.
He was named radio broadcaster of the year seven times and was a finalist a further 10 times during a 23-year spell as the king of the airwaves.
His Deaker on Sport and Deaker Profiles television programmes ran for 15 years and over 700 shows.
Deaker, who was awarded an ONZM for services to sports broadcasting in 2009, interviewed everyone who was anyone in New Zealand and international sport.
The Southern club will use the function as a fundraiser. Tickets are available at the club in Helena St on Wednesday and Saturday evenings, or online (srfc.co.nz).
There are two other major events happening ahead of the Bledisloe Cup test — a rare afternoon clash — at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
The Otago Daily Times and Rugby News magazine are again hosting a long lunch for the Otago-Southland business community. It is at the Dunedin Town Hall on August 4 from 11am to 3pm.
Another broadcaster, Steve Davie, is hosting a luncheon next door at the Glenroy Auditorium.
The first public function for the Louise Davie Charitable Trust, raising funds for pancreatic cancer research, will focus on reliving the glory days of the 1993 Bledisloe Cup test. Mains is one of the guest speakers.
