Happy Feet the penguin should have made his way to Rugby Park because he would have found the conditions he was looking for.
The rain teemed down at times, it was very cold, there were puddles of water around the pitch, and the pitch cut up to make it hard for anyone to prosper.
But Otago should be reasonably happy with its effort. It was solid in the set piece, it tackled well, and never took a backward step to a Southland side which looked well short of a run.
Otago co-coach Andy Hunter said anytime you come down to Invercargill and beat a Southland side then you had to be happy.
"It was mentally very taxing for the players but we won it and we have to be happy with that. That is crucial for the mental development of the players and the mental toughness of the guys," Hunter said.
"It was a totally different game than last week against Tasman, where it was blue skies and the sun shone . . . I thought we made plenty of good play but it is still nice to come out of the game with still plenty to work on."
Hunter said he could not find a lot of things to complain about and had praise for the scrum which he felt was dominant throughout the match.
"I thought our defence was very well structured throughout the whole match."
Ben Smith did not play last night even though Hunter said he was not injured, giving a pointer that the Highlanders fullback may have made the first All Black squad of the year, to be named tomorrow.
There were no major injuries from the match, and the reserves bench was like Grand Central Station in the second half for both sides.
With Otago to kick off its ITM Cup campaign next Thursday night against North Harbour at Carisbrook, the only player unavailable is loose forward Daniel Crichton. He has torn his hamstring and is out for four to six weeks.
The visiting side effectively sealed the game with 10 minutes to go when replacement inside back Sam Giddens dummied and shrugged off a tackle to score after Otago had barged the ball up.
Best for the Otago side were props Halani Aulika and Kees Meeuws, while captain Eben Joubert got through a power of work despite playing his first full game of rugby in nearly 12 months.
Sean Romans was tidy in the conditions at halfback while Glenn Dickson did little wrong in the No 12 jersey.
Otago enjoyed long periods of dominance in the first half but could only get across the chalk once.
Props Meeuws and Aulika were in good form at scrum time while the lineout was sound enough in the awful conditions.
Otago worked hard at the breakdown and won a couple of vital turnovers as Southland looked to press midway through the first half.
It also tackled hard and made few misses on defence though the wet nature of the pitch meant attackers struggled to change direction with any haste.
Otago actually scored its first try after only two minutes.
Southland mucked up the kick-off and the visiting side poured on to attack. Romans then threw a big dummy and burrowed across the line.
Dickson added a penalty midway through the half and then Southland replied with a try by winger Mark Wells after some nice work inside him by Robbie Robinson.
The scores
Otago v Southland
• Otago 13
Sean Romans, Sam Giddens tries, Glenn Dickson pen
• Southland 8
Mark Wells try, Scott Eade pen
• Halftime: 8-5 Otago
• Crowd: 500
