Southland: Like death and taxes, this is an odds-on certainty

There are certain things to rely on in life.

You will waste hours at Auckland traffic lights, and when you get to the other side you will bump into some roadworks.

Politicians believe only those opinion polls in their favour.

And, of course, there's the old line about death and taxes.

And in rugby, Southland will finish last in the NPC first division.

To be fair, they did manage to come second to last a few years ago when promoted Northland struggled to match the pace.

But Southland are invariably the strongest team - albeit by holding up everyone else on the points ladder. Could this be the breakthrough year?

There is nothing in their line-up to suggest that much will be changed for this season.

Apart, that is, from coach Leicester Rutledge's dumping hooker Davin Heaps into Laurie Mains' lap, the well-travelled Samoan first five-eighths Earl Va'a turning up in the deep south, midfielder Joel Wilson arriving from the Brumbies and three-quarter Roy Hawker from Otago.

The men in maroon will be missing Ockers Simon Kerr, Peter Ryan and Graeme Bond from last season.

For a ray of hope, Southland beat Otago in a warm-up match, but they are notoriously unreliable things to judge seasons on.

Rutledge's men hardly have the ideal opener, at Eden Park, and for good measure, it is handy to note that Southland conceded 40 points a game last season.

There is the comfort of knowing Bay of Plenty have to deal with the jump to the first division.

But it is unlikely that the introduction of automatic relegation for 11th place was greeted with wild jubilation in oyster country.