His side came up with a clutch play late in injury time to upset University last weekend.
Mercurial fullback Mackenzie Haugh scored near the corner and his son, Jack Leslie, knocked over the conversion to seal a dramatic 36-35 win in the Cavanagh Memoakrial.
The Magpies had to show plenty of character. Midway through the second half their prospects looked a little bleak. University had scored two nice tries and led 27-15.
"The key was to just stay in the match," Leslie said.
"To have the character and the energy to score at the death and take the victory was great.
"They stretched us a couple of times and we could have fallen off. But we didn’t, so it was a great result for us."
With the season being so short this year, those key moments in a game take on extra meaning.
That final conversion was the difference between two competition points and five. That might be the difference between making the top six or not.
Southern will play Alhambra-Union at the North Ground tomorrow.
AU had a bye in the first round, so it is hard to know how it is travelling.
But Southern has plenty to work on. At the top of the list is defence. The Magpies leaked too many points and were exposed out wide too often.
With Highlanders utility back Vilimoni Koroi expected to front for the Broncos, Southern will need to be on its game. He is a deadly attacker.
"We’re going to be working on our defence right across the board, not only in our outside channel which will be a focus for us.
"They have some really good players, so we’re expecting a really tough game. If we are going to get a win, we’ll have to really earn it."
Kaikorai will host Zingari-Richmond at Bishopscourt. Both teams had a loss first up.
University hosts Green Island at Logan Park. The Grizzlies were on the right side of a one-point margin against the Harbour.
Defending champion Taieri heads to Watson Park to play Harbour, which will be smarting from the narrow defeat to Green Island.
