Shear Class As Australia Beats NZ 2-1 In Wool Test Matches

A gallant bid to claim New Zealand’s first Transtasman machine shearing test win in Australia since 2010 has again fallen short with a defeat by almost 30 points in the series’ 50th anniversary match in country West Australia.

Transtasman series newcomer and King Country shearer Jack Fagan, whose father sheared in 12 transtasman tests, was first to finish the match of six merinos and six crossbred sheep each on Sunday, the last of the three days of the Australian National Shearing and Woolhandling Championships at Katanning, 280km southeast of Perth.

But he and teammates Leon Samuels, of Roxbutgh, and Chris Vickers, of Shag Point, Coastal Otago, were still overcome by the finewool class of Australians Nathan Meaney (S.A.), Daniel McIntyre (NSW) and Josh Bone (Vic), who made amends for a loss to New Zealand at the Golden Shears in Masterton in March.

Also making amends for defeat in Masterton, and helping Australia to a 2-1 triumph in three Transtasman matches during the championships, woolhandlers Alexander Schoff (Qld) and Marlene Whittle (Vic) beat new New Zealand pair Pagan Rimene, of Alexandra, and Ngaio Hanson, of Eketahuna, by about four points in a contest of six merino fleeces and six crossbred fleeces.

New Zealand’s one win came in the blades shearing test of two merinos and two crossbred sheep each, with Tony Dobbs, of Fairlie, and Tim Hogg, of Timaru, beating Australians Johnathon Dalla (S.A.) and Andrew Murray (NSW) by 3.5pts, repeating a black singlets victory they scored at the Waimate Spring Shears a fortnight ago.

Earlier, Dobbs continued a string of Open final wins linked to the test matches and the Australian championships when he won a six-man Katanning Show Shears Open blades final, in which three of the first four were from New Zealand.

The Kiwis led the race, Hogg finishing in 9min 7sec, beating Dobbs by eight seconds, with Murray next in 10m12s. While Dalla had the best quality points, Dobbs had kept close and the time-points advantage was enough to beat Dalla by 4.7pts in the final count.

Hogg was third overall and fourth was former New Zealand representative Mike McConnell, of Christchurch.

No New Zealanders reached the Kattaning Shears Open machine shearing final, which was won by Bone, with Australian teammates McIntyre and Meaney third and fourth.  

The Open woolhandling final was won by Australian team member Schoff, with second place going to 2014 Masterton Golden Shears Junior champion Creedence Culshaw, from Raupunga, while Jacki Harmer, originally from Hastings, was fourth. Both of the New Zealanders are now based in West Australia.

Samuels’; brother, Jimmy Samuels, of Marton, won the Katanning Show Shears speedshear, his 77th win in speedshear competions.

McIntyre, Schoff and Dalla won their respective Australian titles to retain their places in their national team for tests next year in Masterton and Jamestown (S.A.). Meaney also retained his place, with Jamie Boothman (New South Wales) as the third machine shearer, while Tiff Collins (Tasmania) is the second Australian woolhandler.

The New Zealand team remains the same for the machine shearing and woolhandling tests in Masterton on February 28-March 1.

Australia has now won 39 of the 72 Transtasman machine shearing tests since the first at Euroa, Vic., in 1974. New Zealand has won 36 of the 48 wool handling tests since 1998, and 16 of the 17 blades shearing tests since 2010.

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