MEDIA RELEASE

On behalf of Shearing Sports New Zealand

Sunday, March 21, 2010 - 9.15pm

Black singlets on a roll in shearing test against Wales

New Zealand is headed for a second consecutive whitewash in home shearing series' against Wales after a convincing win as test-match shearing came to to tiny Raetihi in the Central North Island on Saturday.

Kiwi shearers John Kirkpatrick, of Napier, and James Fagan, of Te Kuiti, had earlier beaten Welshmen Gareth Daniel and Gareth Evans by almost 10 points in the first test in Gore and almost 13 in the second test at the 50th Golden Shears in Masterton.

While the gap closed to less than five-and-a-half points in the weekend's match at the Waimarino Shears, New Zealand is strongly favoured to make it 4-0 when the series end at the New Zealand Championships in Te Kuiti on April 8-10.

Last year, Kirkpatrick and black-singlets teammate and World champion Paul Avery also won 4-0 against a Welsh team of Daniel and veteran Nicky Beynon, having won an away series in Wales a few months earlier. But it was a different story in Wales last July when a four-test series was squared 2-all.

The Welsh improvement on Saturday was marked by Daniel's pursuit of Kirkpatrick in the 12-sheep event, in which the New Zealander was first finished in 11min 25sec. Just two seconds behind, and using the New Zealand season to prepare for his bid on the World championships at the Royal Welsh Show in July, Daniel carded the best board job, with just 15 penalties to the 20 ticked-up by Kirkpatrick. But the Kiwi helped cement the outcome with demonstrably the better result in the pen's outside.

International Shearing Test (12 sheep): New Zealand 78.708pts (John Kirkpatrick 11min 25sec, 42.332pts; James Fagan 11min 55sec, 45.083pts) beat Wales 84.196pts (Gareth Daniel 11min 27sec, 45.85pts; Gareth Evans 12min 33sec, 51.983pts). New Zealand lead 3-0. The 4th and final test is at the New Zealand championships in Te Kuiti on April 8-10.

ENDS