The cancellation of the Golden Shears has shattered Southland shearers' hopes for a first South Island win the open shearing final in 32 years.
No South Island shearer has won the Golden Shears open final since Edsel Forde's triumph in 1989.
The Southland shearers who loomed as the biggest hopes for the win were returning home "gutted" after being stripped of the opportunity by Covid 19 alert level changes.
The end of the dream for 2021 came yesterday when the 61st Golden Shears were cancelled after Saturday night's announcement of a Covid-19 Level 2 alert throughout the country, escalated to Level 3 in Auckland.
Waiting at the airport on Sunday afternoon, Invercargill shearer Leon Samuels said they were all "gutted" about the cancellation.
"Oh well, that's what happens sometimes," he said.
Invercargill shearer Nathan Stratford (right) chats with pen-boy Ricci Stevens, while awaiting the result of the Apiti Show open shearing final on Saturday. Photo / SSNZ
Weekend shearing round up
Three shearing events took place over the weekend before the announcement was made - the Taumarunui Shears, the Apiti Shears and the Kaikoura A and P Show Shears.
At the Apiti Show in Manawatu on Saturday, Invercargill shearers Nathan Stratford and Leon Samuels, along with Brett Roberts of Mataura, underpinned their Golden Shears prospects by finishing first, third and fourth respectively in a six-man final over 20 sheep each.
Stratford, along with other South Island shearers had won the National Circuit title at the Golden Shears over the years, in a final made-up of five wool types including the fine wool merino, common to much of the shearing in Central Otago.
When Samuels won the Aria Waitangi Sports open final three weeks earlier, he became the first South Island shearer to win an open final on the predominant crossbred and strong wool types in more than a decade.
Stratford and Samuels were runner-up to seven-times Golden Shears open winner and Hawke's Bay shearer Rowland Smith in last year's final.
Meanwhile, Roberts was a strong candidate to reach the open final for the first time – a goal he said was the focus of his entire season's shearing each year.
Roberts had Golden Shears wins in the junior and senior grades behind him and two show wins this summer.
The South Island had a fourth strong Golden Shears final hope, in defending circuit champion and Marlborough shearer Angus Moore, who won the open final at the Kaikoura A and P Show on Saturday.
All are now lining-up the New Zealand Shears in Te Kuiti on April 8-10, where the open final has not been won by a South Island shearer since the 1990s.
Leon Samuels (right) and David Buick would be rivals on most days. On Saturday, after missing a place in the final, Buick was Samuels' helper in the pens. Photo / SSNZ
The other weekend open shearing winner was Wairarapa farmer David Buick, who won at the Taumarunui Shears on Friday.
Buick would have been shearing at the 50th anniversary Pahiatua Shears on Sunday, the final qualifying round in this year's national circuit, but it was cancelled - along with the Wairarapa Pre-Shears Woolhandling Championships which would have been held at Mikimiki, north of Masterton, on Wednesday.
In the true spirit of shearing, Buick had hosted Stratford for the weekend on his farm near Pongaroa - even though they would have been fierce rivals vying for their first Golden Shears open title a few days later.
Uniquely, 10 different shearers were among the 12 place getters in the Taumarunui and Apiti finals.
This was a sign of the toughness and quality of the shearers lining-up this year to try to end the run of Rowland Smith, who was a rare fourth at Taumarunui and who did not compete at Apiti.
Only Roberts and Northland shearer Toa Henderson shore in both finals.
Meanwhile Gisborne's Joel Henare won the Taumarunui open woolhandling title, which was decided on the semi-final outcome - due to the cancellation of the final.
Henare would have been the hot favourite for a ninth successive Golden Shears open title, but on Saturday he was runner-up at Apiti, beaten in what was an emotional win for Napier's woolhandler Angela Stevens.
It was only Stevens' second open final win, at the venue where she first competed, under the guidance of Aunt and mentor Ronnie Goss, who died on Friday at Taumarunui.
Taihape's Sheree Alabaster, and Te Kuiti's Keryn Herbert each had top four placings on Friday and Saturday.
The pair won a world title together in Wales in 2010, but had never won the Golden Shears title due to the annual shut-outs by Henare.
The only competitor to win on both days was Napier-based senior woolhandler Jasmin Tipoki.
Listen to Rowena Duncum interview Sir David Fagan about the Golden Shears on The Country below:
Meanwhile, Shearing Sports New Zealand chairman Sir David Fagan was rapt to hear of a good turnout at the Kaikoura Shears, where there were 21 competitors, including 10 in the open class.
Shearing had been cancelled at Kaikoura last year because of difficulties sourcing suitable sheep. The show had also been cancelled in 2017 because of the earthquake three months earlier, and was hit hard by heavy rain in 2018.
Fagan said it had been a great credit to those involved in getting the show and the shearing running again, with competition entry numbers "on a roll" throughout much of the country, until the Golden Shears cancellation.
The wool flying at the end of the Apiti open woolhandling final, with winner Angela Steves in the foreground. Photo / SSNZA
Results of the three weekend shearing sports competitions
