Kiwi Shearers & Woolhandlers Invade Australia

Kiwi invasion in Aussie

New Zealand shearers and woolhandlers are launching possibly the biggest-ever Kiwi assault on Australian shearing sports with at least 12 of our best lining up in competition on the other side of the Tasman over the next two days.

A Shearing Sports New Zealand team of seven will compete in transtasman tests machine and bladeshearing tests and woolhandling tests against Australia during the Australian national championships in Bendigo.

Another team of five shearers chosen from the New Zealand Shearing Championships in April will be competing separately 284km to the south in the Te Kuiti selection’s annual transtasman challenge against the best from the Warrnambool Show.

The New Zealand team in Bendigo comprises Hawke’s Bay shearers Rowland Smith and John Kirkpatrick and Southlander Troy Pyper, who shear the battle of the machines tomorrow (Friday) and blade shearer , and Canterbury blade shearers Tony Dobbs and Phil Oldfield and Gisborne woolhandlers Joel Henare and Maryanne Baty who contest their test matches on Saturday.

The NZ Shears team in Warrnambool comprises David Buick, of Pongaroa, Dion King, of Flaxmere, and Mark Grainger, who were third, fourth and fifth to Smith and Kirkpatrick in the NZ Championships Open final, Senior champion and now Open-class shearer Darren Alexander, from Whangamomona but recently moved to Hawke’s Bay, and Intermediate champion Sean Gouk, of Hamilton.

Buick and Gouk were pictured at Auckland Airport with Te Kuiti team manager Erana Stevens.

Additionally Oldfield’s son, Allan Oldfield and England-based Michael Churchhouse, from Dannevirke, are shearing in a series of blade shearing competitions in Australia. Oldfield has won eight competitions in a row in Australia, comprising five sports shearing finals and three Speedshear events.

Among them was the biggest click bait of all, Oldfield junior’s World-biggest blade shearing first prize of $3000 at the Boort show on October 14, and clipping a sheep in 56.6 seconds to win the Mt Moriac Speedshear.

ENDS

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