Southland got their 2008 Air New Zealand Cup campaign under way with a comprehensive 18-5 victory against Manawatu in Palmerston North on Friday.
Southland's defensive screen was solid and repelled the Turbos time after time, and, in what was a sloppy first stanza, the Stags went into half-time up by 10-0.
Manawatu could not produce the form that saw them beat Canterbury 25-24 in a major upset of the first round, while the Stags were keen to make amends for their last-minute loss to Otago last week.
It took the home side 76 minutes to put their first and only points on the scoreboard, with replacement winger Lote Raikabula crossing the line for Manawatu to save some face for the men in green and white.
Scott Cowan, a younger brother of All Blacks scrum-half Jimmy, scored Southland's first try in the ninth minute in his first starting appearance in an Air New Zealand Cup game.
Cowan crossed from close range after number eight Hua Tamariki took a quick tap penalty and came up short of the line. Cowan picked and drove, scoring right next to the posts.
Blair Stewart followed up an earlier successful penalty with Cowan's conversion to give the visitors a handy lead that had the Stags up 10-0 in as many minutes.
He then added a second penalty in the second half to stretch the lead to thirteen points and centre Kendrick Lynn's try seven minutes from full-time sealed the result for Southland.
Lynn was elusive with limited opportunities for the Stags in the first half.
However, with the help of some tired fringe defence from the Turbos, Lynn darted 40 meters on an angled run to the corner and score.
Stewart missed the conversion from wide out, but the score read 18-0 and the game was all but wrapped up.
But the Turbos had the last laugh after a strong line-out drive laid the platform for their sole touchdown.
From the ensuing ruck, replacement back Aaron Cruden doubled around centre Frankie Bryant and offloaded to fellow reserve Raikabula who crossed over in the tackle.
Southland leave FNG Stadium with four competition points in the bag, while Manawatu stick around with nothing.
The scorers:
For Manawatu:
Try: Raikabula
For Southland:
Tries: Cowan, Lynn
Con: Stewart
Pens: Stewart 2
Manawatu: 15 Francisco Bosch, 14 Aaron James, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Francis Bryant, 11 Andre Taylor, 10 Matty James, 9 Aaron Good, 8 Nick Crosswell, 7 Doug Tietjens, 6 Hamish Gosling, 5 James Goode, 4 Hayden Triggs (c), 3 Talau Hala, 2 Rob Foreman, 1 Grant Polson.
Replacements: 16 Sean O'Connor, 17 David Te Moana, 18 Paul Rodgers, 19 Adaam Ross, 20 Aaron Smith, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Lote Raikabula.
Southland: 15 Mark Wells, 14 Matt Saunders, 13 Kendrick Lynn, 12 Jason Kawau (c), 11 Pehi Te Whare, 10 Blair Stewart, 9 Scott Cowan, 8 Hua Tamariki, 7 Tim Boys, 6 Dion Bates, 5 Hoani Macdonald, 4 Josh Bekhuis, 3 Chris King, 2 David Hall, 1 Fai Mika.
Replacements: 16 Matt Holloway, 17 Micheal Peterson, 18 Daniel Ramsay, 19 John Hardie, 20 Dane Shelford, 21 Willie Rickards, 22 Robbie Robinson.
Referee: Jonathon White
TMO: Lyndon Bray