Dobbs, the winner of more than 100 finals in a 40-year career (including victory in an all-New Zealand field at the 1988 championships in Masterton) was fourth in Sunday’s individual final which Rabela won and defending champion Oldfield was a shock elimination in the semi-finals.
Listen to Jamie Mackay interview The Country’s executive producer Rowena Duncum about the results below:
In what became a benefit for Wales, which claimed three of the titles, Kiwi woolhandling pair Candy Hiri, of Gore, and Ngaio Hanson, of Eketahuna, were fourth in the woolhandling teams’ event won by Welsh pair Ffion Jones and Sarah-Jane Rees.
Shearers Rowland Smith, of Maraekakaho, and Southland gun Leon Samuels, were sixth in the machines teams event, won by Welsh pair Gwion Evans and Richard Jones.
The biggest surprise in possibly the history of the championships was that for the first time, New Zealand was not represented in either the machine shearing or woolhandling individual finals.
In the six-man machines shearing final, which New Zealand had won 12 of the previous 18 times, it was a Wales one-two, with Evans edging out defending champion Jones, while in the woolhandling Scotland team members Rosie Keenan and Audrey Aiken were first and second respectively.
Smith and Samuels were eliminated from the machine shearing in the semi-finals.
Still, they were in good company, with the elimination also of Smith’s brother and England representative, Matthew Smith, and three-times former finalist Hamish Mitchell, of Scotland.
Former New Zealand representative Keryn Herbert, of Te Kuiti, was sixth in the woolhandling individual event, representing Cook Islands.
Results from the 2023 Golden Shears World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships
Machine shearing Individual: Gwion Evans (Wales) 1, Richard Jones (Wales) 2, Calum Shaw (Scotland) 3, Denis O’Sullivan (Ireland) 4, Ivan Scott (Ireland) 5, Adam Berry (England) 6.
Machine shearing teams: Wales (Gwion Evans, Richard Jones) 1, England (Adam Berry, Matthew Smith) 2, Scotland (Hamish Mitchell, Calum Shaw) 3, Ireland (Denis O’Sullivan, Ivan Scott) 4, Northern Ireland (Graeme Davidson, Jack Robinson) 5, New Zealand (Leon Samuels, Rowland Smith) 6.
Woolhandling individual: Rosie Keenan (Scotland) 1, Audrey Aiken (Scotland) 2, Lucie Grancher (France) 3, Hilary Bond-Harding (England) 4, Adele Lemercier (France) 5, Keryn Herbert (Cook Islands) 6.
Woolhandling teams: Wales (Ffion Jones, Sarah Rees) 1, France (Lucie Grancher, Adele Lemercier) 2, Scotland (Audrey Aiken) 3, New Zealand (Ngaio Hanson, Candy Hiri) 4, England (Hilary Bond-Harding, Alice Derryman) 5, Australia (Mark Purcell, Racheal Hutchinson) 6.
Blade shearing individual: Bonile Rabela (South Africa) 1, Zwelamakhosi Mbuweni (South Africa) 2, Andrew Mudge (England) 3, Tony Dobbs (New Zealand) 4, Johnathon Dalla (Australia) 5, Elfed Jackson (Wales) 6.
Blade shearing teams: South Africa (Bonile Rabela, Zwelamakhosi Mbuweni) 1, New Zealand (Tony Dobbs, Allan Oldfield) 2, Wales (Elfed Jackson, Gareth Owen) 3, Australia ( Johnathon Dalla, Andrew Murray) 4, England (Andrew Mudge, George Mudge) 5, Ireland (Peter Heraty, James Hopkins) 6.
Royal Highland Show All-Nations Championships
Machine shearing final (20 sheep): Richard Jones (Wales) 14min 34sec, 50.45pts, 1; Gwion Evans (Wales) 14min 13sec, 52.3prs, 2; Jack Robinson (Northern Ireland) 15min 25sec, 54pts, 3; Gavin Mutch (Scotland) 14min 29sec, 54.25pts, 4; Gareth Daniel (Wales) 14min 33sec, 56.05pts, 5; Leon Samuels (New Zealand) 15min 21sec, 56.55pts, 6.
Woolhandling:
Open final: Hilary Bond-Harding (England) 36.6pts, 1; Rosie Keenan (Scotland) 43pts, 2; Audrey Aiken (Scotland) 48.2pts, 3; Ffion Jones (Wales) 59.6pts, 4; Tina Elers (Cook Islands) 60.1pts, 5; Ngaio Hanson (New Zealand) 65.8pts, 6.
Blade shearing final (5 sheep): James Hopkins (Ireland) 16min 58sec, 73.1pts, 1; Andrew Mudge (England) 13min 11sec, 75.95pts, 2; Johnathon Dalla (Australia) 12min 9sec, 76.85pts, 3; Peter Heraty (Ireland) 14min 39sec, 77.15pts, 4; Gareth Owen (Wales) 15min 42sec, 80.1pts, 5; Mark Armstrong (Scotland) 17min 25sec, 83.65pts, 6.