Test shearing hope warms up with Duvauchelle win

MEDIA RELEASE
From Doug Laing, media officer, Shearing Sports New Zealand
January 10, 2015

Test shearing hope warms up with Duvauchelle win

Rakaia shearer Tony Coster gave a hint he’s ready for an upcoming test series against Wales when he won the first South Island competition of the New Year today, despite a lack of recent shearing.

Coster, who according to wife Sheryl hadn’t done any shearing for several weeks, won the Open final at the Duvauchelle Show on Bank’s Peninsula.

A newly-created Shearing Sports New Zealand Master Shearer, Coster has had more than 25 seasons of Open-class shearing, but it was his first win at Duvauchelle, where he did not compete last year.

Despite the lack of preparation and previous form at the show, he was still the favourite to win, having won four finals pre-Christmas, along with finishing runner-up to Irish shearer Ivan Scott in the New Zealand Corriedale Championship at the Canterbury Show in November.

Fellow Master Shearer Grant Smith, also of Rakaia, tried hard to displace Coster and won the race for time honours, with a 20-second margin and finishing his 15 second-shear sheep in 14min 24.34sec.

But Coster maintained the quality and ultimately won by a comfortable three-and-a-half points from Mark Herlihy, of Rangiora, with Smith having to settle for third.

Coster and last year’s Duvauchelle winner, King Country shearing legend David Fagan, will shear a test series against the Wellsh team of Rhys Jones and Gwion Evans next month, Coster replacing injured Napier gun John Kirkpatrick.

A two-man Senior competition today was won by David Jackson, of Sefton, while Canterbury Show winners Hugh De Lacy, of Fernside, near Rangiora, and Emily Te Kapa, from Scotland, maintained their form from pre-Christmas by winning the Intermediate and Junior finals respectively.

More than 40 shearers competed in the hot summery conditions, with organisers especially pleased by the entry of 15 shearers in the Junior grade.

Results of the Peninsula Duvauchelle Shears at the Duvauchelle Show on Saturday, January 10, 2015:

Open final (15 sheep): Tony Coster (Rakaia) 14min 44.34sec, 55.28pts, 1; Mark Herlihy (Rangiora) 15min 15.51sec, 58.84pts, 2; Grant Smith (Rakaia) 14min 24.34sec, 60.35pts, 3; Shaun Burgess (Rakaia) 15min 1.44sec, 65.84pts, 4.

Senior final (7 sheep): David Jackson (Sefton) 8min 41.05sec, 54.91pts, 1; Rob Dwyer (-) 8min 18.28sec, 72.34pts, 2.

Intermediate final (6 sheep): Hugh De Lacy (Fernside) 9min 7.94sec, 37.4pts, 1; Luis Pincol (Chile) 7min 46.5sec, 43.73pts, 2; Kingsley Young (Ashburton) 11min 32.53sec, 57.03pts, 3; Chris Le Lievre (Akaroa) 9min 17.5sec, 81.08pts, 4.

Junior final (4 sheep): Emily Te Kapa (Scotland) 9min 33.28sec, 37.66pts, 1; Eve Peddie (Oxford) 7min 24.22sec, 40.21pts, 2; Robert Hubber (Heddon Bush) 8min 18.88sec, 43.94pts, 3; Edward Herrington (Akaroa) 10min 47.81sec, 46.64pts, 4.

Veterans (2 sheep): Owen Brocherie (Akaroa) 11min 20.57sec, 59.53pts, 1; Ged Foley (-) 6min 57.04sec, 59.85pts, 2; Mark Thompson (-) 9min 53.5sec, 64.18pts, 3; Henare Robinson (Akaroa) 9min 29.25sec, 66.96pts, 4.

ENDS

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