NZ teams dominate development shearing series

The lineup after Saturday’s CP Wool International shearing development teams series match at the Rangitikei Shearing Sports in Marton, from left the New Zealand team of Jack Fagan, Axle Reid and Jacob Moore, and Wales team Ceredig Lewis Llion Jones and manager Nicky Beynon. PHOTO/SSNZ

New Zealand teams have now won all three of the CP Wool International development teams shearing series matches against Wales.

The latest victory came at the Rangitikei Shearing Sports in Marton on Saturday, when New Zealand shearers Jack Fagan, of Te Kuiti, and Axle Reid, from Taihape but now living in Waipawa, claimed victory by a comfortable 11.94pts from the Wales Development team of Llion Jones, from Llanwrst, North Wales, and Ceredig Lewis, of university town Aberystwyth.

The Kiwi pair, as at eacxh of the matches, comprised highest-placed New Zealanders from the heats of the day’s Open championship, so long as they had not been formally selected in the past to represent New Zealand.

Fagan had worn the black singlet as a late replacement in Wales as the nearest New Zealander on-hand when official representative Rowland Smith became unavailable during a 2017 UK tour. While having won a Welsh Open final, he has however had just three Open finals in New Zealand – the Wairarapa show and two Northland shows in the 2017-2018 season – he hs had a string of top Speedshear wins.

Reid has not won an Open final in New Zealand, but one a Golden Shears Open Invitation Encouragement event in 2018.  

Six shearers have now been in Shearing Sports New Zealand development teams in the current series, including Hawke’s Bay shearers Lachie Baynes and Paraki Puna winning the Wales tour opener at Wairoa on January 18 and Brett Roberts, of Mataura, and Jimmy Samuels, of Marton, wearing the singlet at Taihape a week later.

The remaining matches will be at the Aria Waitangi Day Sports shearing and woolhandling championships on Thursday and the Franklin A and P Show’s Counties Shears on February 16.

The Aria sports have an historic background in King Country dating back to a World War 1 patriotic fundraising sports day in 1916, but reports do not mention shearing as having been on the programme.

It has however been a part for many years, and competitors in the shearing and woolhandling starting at 8.30am on Thursday, and a speedshear on Wednesday night at the Aria Cosmopolitan Club, could with supporters double the size of the township’s population of just over 200.

Competition convener and Piopio contractor Mark Barrowcliffe, whose crews expect to be fully involved in the day as competitors or helpers, said the international development teams series is a "great initiative" by Shearing Sports New Zealand to encourage up-and-coming Open-class shearers. 

RESULT from the Rangitikei Shearing Sports at Marton on Saturday, February 1, 2020:

CP Wool International Serries (15 lambs each): New Zealand Development (Jack Fagan 14min 25.51sec, 57.476pts; Axle Reid 16min 42.5sec, 62.725pts,) 120.201pts, beat Wales Development 131.741pts (Llion Jones 17min 1.39sec, 64.404pts; Ceredig Lewis 17min 4.08sec, 67.337pts) by 11.94pts. 

Ends