The match was a dour struggle, dominated by the whistle, and neither side would have been happy with its performance.
Otago failed to gain much territory or possession in the second 40 minutes, although the match had little continuity.
The Otago line-out was wonky throughout and failed to find enough clean ball while the scrums were a complete mess from the opening whistle.
Defence dominated for long periods, and referee Peter Wilkinson's insistence on playing a long advantage meant there was little to get enthused about.
Otago assistant coach Bruce Carvell said the game showed the team needed to sharpen up at set pieces, but he was pleased with the side's effort at the breakdown.
"It was a stop-start sort of game where there were a lot of penalties, some of which were hard to fathom," he said.
"We looked good when we got some phases together but, unfortunately, when we did there would be a penalty."
He said the line-out improved in the second half, and he felt the Otago scrum more than matched its more vaunted opposition. Carvell said the side just had to put more phases together, and the points would come.
Otago nearly stole it with 10 minutes left.
Trailing 12-7, Otago first five-eighth Chris Noakes took a quick tap in front of the posts and fed speedy centre Brett Mather who crashed under the posts.
Noakes knocked over the simple conversion but, after replacement prop Kees Meeuws was sin-binned for a stray punch, Southland came back on to attack.
From a 5m scrum, replacement halfback Sonny Rangitoheriri burrowed over for the match-winning try.
Southland hooker David Hall had already scored a try in the corner, detaching from a maul, to give Southland its first lead after it trailed 7-5 at the break.
The match took a while to get into life, with both sides showing a lack of accuracy. Neither team could hold on to the ball for any length of time and, if it did, a mistake would eventually come.
There were six scrum penalties or free kicks in the first 20 minutes as referee Wilkinson found plenty of indiscretions.
The match was just drifting along with much of the play between the two 22m lines.
After missing two penalties in the first 20 minutes, Noakes intercepted the ball from a Southland in-pass and cantered 50m for a try wide out with six minutes left in the first half. He knocked over the conversion from the sideline.
Southland had been attempting with limited success to move the ball wide, but finally broke through right on half-time.
The ball was moved from the line-out, and centre Kendrick Lynn found a hole in the Otago backline to sprint over from 30m out.
James Wilson failed to add the conversion.
Best for Otago was Noakes, while outside him second five-eighth Andrew Parata and Mather looked good.
Up front, captain Alando Soakai was as busy as ever and loose forward Paul Grant showed plenty of endeavour when he came on in the second half.
Hooker Jason Macdonald got round the park when he came on at the start of the second half.
Best for the home side was Lynn, hard-running fullback Mark Wells and lock Josh Bekhuis who led an impressive Southland line-out.
• Southland 19 (Kendrick Lynn, David Hall, Sonny Rangitoheriri tries, Robbie Robinson 2 conversions), Otago 14 (Chris Noakes, Brett Mather tries, Noakes 2 conversions). Half-time: Otago 7-5. Crowd: 1000.
