Rare Shearing Test Match For New Zealand In France
The Wools of New Zealand Shearing Sports New Zealand shearing team has crossed the English Channel for a rare test match against France.
David Buick, from Pangaroa, and Jack Fagan, of Te Kuiti, will be shearing against French brothers Gilles and Pierre Grancher in the picturesque setting of the French national championships at Martel, a medieval town in the southwest of France.
It is where Fagan’s father, Sir David Fagan, in 2015 shore the last competition in his 33 years of Open-class shearing, and where Jack Fagan won the French all-nations Open final in 2017.
The test is the third of six on a month-long UK tour, with New Zealand having been beaten by Scotland in the opening match at the Lochearnhead Shears on June 29 but having won against England at the Great Yorkshire Show on Wednesday.
The tour ends with a three-test series against Wales, at the Cothi Shears on July 20, the Royal Welsh Show on July 24, and the Corwen Shears on July 27.