Hawke's Bay shearer Rowland Smith wins the Golden Shears open title for the eighth time. Photo / Pete Nikolaison / Golden Shears Media Group
Hawke's Bay shearer Rowland Smith wins the Golden Shears open title for the eighth time. Photo / Pete Nikolaison / Golden Shears Media Group
Champion shearer Rowland Smith achieved the goal he’d set all season when he won an eighth Golden Shears open shearing title in Masterton on Saturday night.
Smith will now represent New Zealand at the 2023 Golden Shears World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Scotland on June 22-25. Among the toughest opposition will be his brother, expatriate kiwi Matt Smith, representing England.
His win capped three days of a fever-pitched return of the Golden Shears, after two years of pandemic cancellations.
Smith claimed his victory by more than three points from runner-up, Marlborough shearer Angus Moore, despite being only third off the board, after a classic race for time honours on stands 1, 2, and 3.
A time points deficit of over one point was nothing against the trademark quality of two-metre giant Smith, who always seemed in control.
Moore, in the open final for the first time, bolted into the lead on the second sheep, and remained in front until the eighth when Masterton shearer Paerata Abraham hit the front and, shearing at a consistent pace of a little over 40 seconds a sheep, stayed there till the end, finishing in 15min 43.88sec.
Earlier in the night Moore won the multi-breed PGG Wrightson Vetmed National Shearing Circuit final for a third time.
Abraham’s performance revived memories of his only previous Golden Shears open final when he cleared the 20 sheep in 15min 50.234sec in 2016.
The fastest time final of all was when David Fagan shore 15min 27.4sec in 2003 with John Kirkpatrick second off the board in 15min 43.8sec when they were ultimately winner and runner-up respectively.
Third place went to near-perennial beaten finalist and Invercargill shear Nathan Stratford, despite being last to finish, in 16min 57.959sec.
Fourth was first-time finalist Hemi Braddick, of Eketahuna, Abraham was fifth and four-time winner Kirkpatrick was sixth.
Meanwhile, Joel Henare, from Gisborne but living with his three children in Motueka, justified hot TAB favouritism to win a ninth-consecutive Golden Shears open woolhandling title with a wide margin from runner-up Keryn Herbert, of Te Kuiti.
Henare was unavailable for World Championships selection, leaving what became one of the closest finals ever in a woolhandling final as four others fought out a team selection final.
Rowland Smith, of Maraekakaho, Hawke's Bay, salutes his late father after winning the Golden Shears open shearing title for an eighth time. Photo / Pete Nikolaison / Golden Shears Media Group
The two positions were claimed by Candi Hiri of Gore and Ngaio Hanson of Eketahuna, with less than a point covering the first three places, just cutting Foonie Waihape, of Alexandra, out of the trip to Edinburgh.
Hanson’s performance was one of three putting both Eketahuna and her family on the map. She’s the sister of open shearing finalist Hemi Braddick and open woolhandling third-placegetter Ana Braddick.
The New Zealand shearing team of southern trio Stratford, Stacy Te Huia and Leon Samuels staged an amazing comeback to win a transtasman shearing test against Australian visitors Daniel McIntyre, Nathan Meaney and Sam Mackrill.
Listen to Jamie Mackay interview Rowland Smith on The Country below:
The black singlets had been given a sound beaten in the season’s first test in Bendigo, Vic, in November, but sprung the surprises by being in charge over the six Merinos each that comprised the first half of the contest, followed by the New Zealand breed full-wools and second-shears.
The TAB had favoured the Australians, but it became payback also for the previous night’s surprise win over New Zealand in a woolhandling test.
Among lower grade triumphs, 21-year-old Abby Curnow, of Bendigo, Vic, is the new junior woohandling champion, becoming the first Australian to win a Golden Shears woolhandling title in the 38-years since woolhandling was added to the Shears’ ribbon parade in 1985.
It also made it a double of the junior titles for Australia, after 18-year-old Tyron Cochrane, of Goodooga, NSW won the junior shearing title on Friday, the first Australian to win a New Zealand Golden Shears title since John Allan’s intermediate victory at the Golden Shears’ inception in 1961.
The senior woolhandling title on Saturday was won by Rahera Kerr, of Hauturu, the senior shearing final was won by Clay Harris, of Piopio, and the intermediate shearing final was won by Will Sinclair, of Balclutha, both backed by recent winning form.
In the wool pressing, Masterton’s Goodger brothers again battled for the men’s singles title, with Jeremy scoring a 14th win, claiming the title back from brother Vinnie, winner four times in a row from 2017 to 2020.
The women’s title was won for the first time by Savannah King, of Eketahuna, beating eight-time winner Fiona Healy in the final.
Results from the Golden Shears International Shearing Championships
War Memorial Stadium, Masterton Thursday-Saturday March 2-4, 2023
Transtasman shearing test (12 sheep - 6 Merinos, 3 long wool, 3 second-shear): New Zealand (Leon Samuels 15min 55.799sec, 65.957pts; Nathan Stratford 17min 53.382sec, 68.003pts; Stacey Te Huia 16min 2.991sec,69.65pts) 203.61pts beat Australia (Sam Mackrill 17min 11.512sec, 69.992pts; Nathan Meaney 18min 6.205sec, 70.31pts; Daniel McIntyre 17min 28.975sec, 70.449pts) 210.751pts.
Transtasman woolhandling test (8 fleeces): Australia (Racheal Hutchison, Mark Purcell) 282.3pts, 1; New Zealand (Cushla Abraham, Angela Stevens) 309.7pts, 2.
Wools of New Zealand Shearing Sports New Zealand World Championships woolhandling selection series final: Candi Hiri (Gore) 111.92pts, 1; Ngaio Hanson (Eketahuna) 112.46pts, 2; Foonie Waihape (Alexandra) 112.48pts, 3; Jasmin Tipoki (Martinborough/Napier) 165.28pts, 4. Candi Hiri and Ngaio Hanson will be the two woolhandlers to represent New Zealand at the World Championships in Edinburgh on June 22-25.
Māori-Pākehā Teams (8 sheep): David Gordon (Masterton) and Jacob Moore (Marton) 62.270pts, 1; Whakapunake (Naki) Maraki (Flaxmere/Feilding) and Paul Hodges (Geraldine) 68.326pts, 2; Reuben Alabaster (Taihape) and Matthew Hunt (Waikaka) 69.588pts, 3.
