NZ shears team going for the top at World champs
The Allflex New Zealand Shearing and Woolhandling team is quickly casting a black singlet of anticipation over the last day of the 18th World championships in France.
Allan Oldfield, of Geraldine, and Tony Dobbs, of Fairlie, have qualified second and third respectively for the blade shearing semi-finals, and Pagan Rimene, of Alexandra, and Sheree Alabaster, of Taihape have qualified first and third for the woolhandling semi-finals.
Shearers Rowland Smith, of Hawke’s Bay farming locality Maraekakaho and from Ruawai in Northland, and Cam Ferguson, of Waipawa, are currently shearing in the third round of the machine shearing qualifiers, expected to hold onto their positions near the top of the table and also make the semi-finals. Cureent leader is 2012 champion Gavin Mutch, from Scotland.
New Zealand won the machine shearing and woolhandling teams titles at the last championships in Invercargill in 2017.