Welsh win historic Cothi match by a whisker

Elders Primary Wool UK Tour

Welsh win historic Cothi match by a whisker

Wales has beaten New Zealand by the proverbial whisker in an historic Elders Primary Wool UK Tour match at the Cothi Shears.

Judges had to go to a 0.95 margin in pen judging marks to decide the outcome after overall time and quality points tied the two-man teams at 107.5pts each, thought to be the first tied test in shearing history.

Kiwi shearing legend David Fagan, of Te Kuiti, won the race for time honours, his 13min 27sec for 20 lambs beating Welsh star Gareth Daniel by eight seconds, and second New Zealand team member John Kirkpatrick, of Napier, finished with the best individual points overall.

Bu, with Fagan losing points in the pen judging in particular, it was not good enough to stop Machynlleth farmer Daniel and Corwen shearer Richard Jones taking the win, repeating a triumph of a year ago when victory put the Welsh on the pathway to an historic 3-1 series win.

Jones and Daniel thrilled their home crowd even more by finishing first and second respectively in the Cothi Shears Open final, won two years ago by Kirkpatrick and last year by fellow Hawke’s Bay shearer Rowland Smith, who wore the New Zealand singlet to victory in the World Championships final in Ireland two months ago.

Fagan was also first to finish today’s Open final, with 20 lambs in 13min 38sec, but had to settle for third place, 1.5pts from Jones who had clearly the best pen-points. Kirkpatrick was fourth.

The test was the first of four between Wales and New Zealand ending the Elders Primary Wool tour, the second to be shorn at Lampeter early Sunday (NZ time), the third at the Royal Welsh Show on Wednesday, and the last at Corwennext Saturday.

The test at the Royal Welsh Show is expected to be televised live and be available by live streaming.

Results from the Cneifio Cothi Shears:

Elders Primary Wool UK Tour, NZ v Wales, First test (20 sheep): Wales 107.5pts, pen penalties 21.15 (Richard Jones 14min 17sec, 52.3pts; Gareth Daniel 13min 35sec, 55.2pts) beat New Zealand 107.5pts, pen penalties 22.1 (John Kirkpatrick 13min 37sec, 51.65pts; Daviud Fagan 13min 27sec, 55.85pts). Wales lead series 1-0.

Cothi Shears Open final (20 sheep): Richard Jones (Wales) 14min 1sec, 53.2pts, 1; Gareth Daniel (Wales) 13min 45sec, 53.9pts, 2; David Fagan (NZ) 13min 38sec, 54..7pts, 3; John Kirkpatrick (NZ) 13min 51sec, 55.55pts, 4; Gwion Evans (Wales) 13min 51sec, 58.85pts, 5; Alun Jones (Wales) 14min 54sec, 72pts, 6.

ENDS

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