The Otago Spirit claimed promotion by sweeping through the Farah Palmer Cup Championship unbeaten.
Otago’s men have tucked the Ranfurly Shield away for the summer and are — whisper it very quietly — just two wins away from winning the NPC for the first time since 1998.
There are some good things happening at school level, too. Witness King’s having four players chosen for New Zealand squads.
There might also need to be some light shone on the people with the whistles in the middle.
No fewer than three of the NPC quarterfinals at the weekend were controlled by referees who are in or came through the Otago system.
Ben O’Keeffe, New Zealand’s most-capped referee and a four-time national referee of the year, handled Otago’s dramatic win over Waikato.
He has been gone from Dunedin for a while, but O’Keeffe first picked up a whistle when he was studying medicine in the city.
Dunedin referee James Doleman was in the middle for the Bay of Plenty v Tasman quarterfinal.
Doleman brought up 50 Super Rugby Games this season, is in his fifth year refereeing test rugby and handled the opening game of the British and Irish Lions tour against the Pumas in Dublin.
Fraser Hannon, also of Dunedin, refereed the final NPC quarterfinal, an extra-time thriller between Canterbury and Counties-Manukau on Sunday.
On top of that, Otago referee Caleb Neilson controlled the Lochore Cup semifinal — also a thriller, featuring a wild winning try in the final seconds — between North Otago and Poverty Bay in Oamaru.
Earlier this season, Dunedin referee Erin Doherty had the whistle for the Farah Palmer Cup Premiership final.
It has warmed the heart of Otago Rugby Football Union referees chief Brandon Hale to see southerners so highly represented.
"We’ve got five first-class referees from Otago, the equal most of any provincial union," Hale said.
"The cool thing is we see them come through club and community rugby, and we see their evolution as referees.
"Their success has been built on the hard work and dedication they’ve made to our game, and it’s cool to see them being recognised. It’s very exciting"
Having top-class referees in the province is an obvious marketing tool to encourage more people to pick up a whistle.
"It shows that it’s attainable, and we’re punching well above our weight down here.
"And it’s cool because those top referees come back to our community game, and it just lifts the overall quality of rugby in Otago."
Hale said there were some other promising rugby referees on the southern scene.
They were not being rushed but would be carefully encouraged and developed to see if they could follow in the footsteps of Doleman and company.
