MEDIA RELEASE
On behalf of Shearing Sports New Zealand

July 22, 2011

Kiwis last chance to claim Welsh shearing series

New Zealand shearers Rowland Smith and Dion King have been beaten in the penultimate test of a UK tour, leaving one last chance to claim a series victory over Wales this weekend.

The defeat came at the Royal Welsh Show where Welsh shearers Gareth Daniel and Richard Jones won by 1.5pts, bouncing back from the heavy defeats Daniel and previous teammate Wyn Jones had in the opening two tests of the four-test series.

At Corwen this weekend, Hawke’s Bay-based Smith and King will be out to claim a 3-1 series win over Wales, to go with an earlier 2-1 win over England. In the two other tests on tour, they were beaten by the UK and by Scotland.

The Kiwis defeat at the Royal Welsh Show, which attracted more than 200,000 people over four days, was in contrast to the successes of 12 months ago when in addition to Kiwi shearers Cam Ferguson and David Fagan’s domination of the World Championships, New Zealand had beaten Wales in a test and veteran team member Fagan won the Royal Welsh All-Nations Championship.

This week, Daniel satisfied the Welsh lust for revenge also with victory in the championship, beating runner-up Fagan by seven-tenths of a point, with King third.

Daniel was first finished in both of the 20-sheep events, clocking 12min 51sec in the test to beat King by 25 seconds, and 11min 42sec in the championship final to beat Fagan by 22 seconds.

Rowland Smith was a surprise elimination in the heats which involved 41 shearers, but brother Matthew and fellow New Zealander Paerata Abraham survived and just missed qualifying for the final.
Their continued form marks them among those to watch in New Zealand’s World Championships qualifying series which starts in Christchurch in November, leading to the selection of two machine shearers for the next World shearing and woolhandling championships at the Golden Shears in Masterton in March.

There remained a place for the Fagan name on the Royal Welsh honours board however, with its senior title going to Fagan’s 19-year-old son, Jack, who beat runner-up and former Hastings-based English shearer Steve Rowberry by a comfortable 34 seconds over 12 sheep, and 3.784pts on the final scoresheet.

Results of major events involving New Zealand shearers at the Royal Welsh Show which ended early today (NZT):

International 20 sheep: Wales 103.8pts (Gareth Daniel 12min 51sec, 49.9pts; Richard Jonees 14min 27sec, 53.9pts) beat New Zealand 105.3pts (Dion King 13min 14sec, 51.75pts; Rowland Smith 13min 51sec, 53.55pts).. New Zealand leads 2-1 with one test to go this weekend.

Royal Welsh All Nations Open Championships (20 aheep): Gareth Daniel (Wales) 11min 42sec, 44.75pts, 1; David Fagan (New Zealand) 12min 4sec, 46.45pts, 2; Dion King (New Zealand) 12min 18sec, 48.15pts, 3; Ian Jones (Wales) 12min 26sec, 48.7pts, 4; Andrew Morris (Wales) 11min 51sec, 48.9pts, 5; Nicky Beynon (Wales) 12min 46sec, 49.95pts, 6.

Royal Welsh Senior final (12 sheep): Jack Fagan (New Zealand) 9min 33sec, 39.733pts, 1; Steve Rowberry (England) 10min 7sec, 43.517pts, 2; Mark Evans (Wales) 10min 53sec, 44.983pts, 3; Jack Robinson (Northern Ireland) 10min 22sec, 45.433pts, 4; Matthew Rees (Wales) 10min 43sec, 48.067pts, 5.

ENDS