Smith hits top form in first competition of year

John Kirkpatrick is aiming to return to competition next season.

World champion Hawke's Bay shearer Rowland Smith was immediately back into winning form on Saturday when he returned from a competition break of more than nine months since his triumphs in the UK last year.

Apart from the inaugural New Zealand Rural Games speedshear in Queenstown last month, Smith hadn't competed since returning from the UK after winning the world title in Ireland in May.

While continuing the daily grind of work in the woolshed, Smith's only appearances at competitions this season had been helping-out or as a spectator, as he was in Masterton three weeks ago at the Golden Shears, where he'd won the glamour Open title in 2013 and 2014.

The win on Saturday came at a familiar happy hunting ground in Raetihi, where he won the Waimarino Sports Open final for a fourth year in a row.

In his 14th season of competition shearing since first fronting in then junior ranks, he has won more than 60 Open finals, his victories last year including the Golden Shears and New Zealand Championships Open titles, and finals at the Balmoral Show in Belfast and the 50th anniversary Golden Shears of Great Britain and Eire either side of the World Championships win.

Smith has indicated he will compete in the New Zealand Championships in Te Kuiti next month, the competition swansong of King Country shearing legend David Fagan.

The news is not so good for World Championships teammate John Kirkpatrick who has also had the season off with injury. After surgery on his shoulder, he had, too, hoped to return to the competition board in time for Te Kuiti. But he said yesterday that was unlikely.

His aim, like other top shearers, is to be ready for next season, which is expected to include qualifying rounds in the selection of the New Zealand team for the next World Championships in Christchurch in 2017.

As at the Golden Shears, Fagan was a surprise semifinal elimination on Saturday, leaving Smith to fight out a 20-sheep final with three others with fewer than 10 Open wins between them, including Porangahau's Adam Brausch.

Pongaroa farmer, contractor and shearer David Buick pipped Smith by 12 seconds in finishing first in 17min 16sec, but Smith won with the better quality points.

The North Island has a double-header this weekend with the Waitomo Caves Shears on Saturday and the Taranaki Shears in Stratford on Sunday.