Kiwi Blades - The Finest Cut In Transtasman Shearing

+ New Zealand beat Australia in bladeshearing test match

+ Australia wins machine shearing and woolhandling tests.

Canterbury blade shearers Tony Dobbs and Scott McKay held-up New Zealand’s end in a three-test Transtasman shearing sports series at the Australian National Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in South Australia on Saturday.

Dobbs, from Fairlie, and Mackay, of Culverden, extended the black-singlet dominance in the annual home-and-away blade shearing tests by beating Australian pair Johnathon Dalla and Andrew Murray, by almost 12 points in the test at Jamestown, 218km north of Adelaide, on Saturday.

While Dalla was first to finish, taking 11min 28sec and beating next-man-off McKay, it was the Kiwi who claimed best points overall.n

Making it 2-0 this season, after victory at Waimate two weeks ago, New Zealand has won all-but one of the blade shearing tests since 2010.

But it was the Shearing Sports New Zealand team’s only win, with Australia winning both the machine shearing and woolhandling tests.

In the shearing test Australians Daniel McIntyre, 2025 New Zealand Merino championship winner Jamie Boothman and Nathan Meaney beat the New Zealand team of David Buick, of Pongaroa, Angus Moore, of Seddon, and Chris Vickers, of Palmerston, by almost 46 points, for Australia’s third win in a row in the machines tests, having won at Katanning W.A. last year and the Golden Shears in Masterton last March.

Best of the New Zealanders was Moore, who was a surprise second finisher, shearing the 12 merino and crossbred sheep in 18min 7sec, just six seconds behind McIntyre.

But the New Zealanders, having been late arrivals after the disruption of travel plans because of the storm in New Zealand - including Buick not arriving in Jamestown until more than 30 hours after leaving his farm at Pongaroa in northern Wairarapa on Thursday morning – were hammered in shearing penalties on the board.

The woolhandling went to Australian pair Alexander Schoff and Tiffany Collins, with victory by almost nine points over New Zealanders Joel Henare, of Motueka, and Ngaio Hanson, of Eketahuna.

In the Jamestown Open finals, Dobbs and McKay were second and third respectively to Dalla in the blades shearing, and Henare was fourth to Schoff in the woolhandling.

The home woolhandling and machine shearing tests are usually held at the Golden Shears, but a cramped programme as the Shears host the 2026 World championships on March 4-7 has resulted in decisions to stage the woolhandling test at the Otago Shears and the machine shearing at the 60th anniversary Southern Shears in Gore, a week apart in February.

RESULTS of the Transtasman Shearing and Woolhandling tests at the Australian National Shearing and Woolhandling Championships at Jamestown, South Australia, on Saturday, October 25, 2025:

Machine Shearing (12 sheep): Australia (Nathan Meaney 18m 35s, 80.42pts; Daniel McIntyre 17m 59s, 80.87pts; Jamie Boothman 19m 34s, 91.28pts) 252.57pts, New Zealand (Angus Moore 18m 7s, 92.35pts; Chris Vickers 19m 20s, 93.92pts; David Buick 24m 27s, 112.18pts) 298.45pts. Australia won by 45.88pts.

Blade shearing (3 sheep): New Zealand (Scott McKay 11m 40s, 56.17pts; Tony Dobbs 13m 5s, 71.42pts) 127.58pts, Australia (Johnathon Dalla 11m 28s, 61.57pts; Andrew Murray 15m 17s, 77.85pts) 139.42pts. New Zealand won by 11.84pts

Woolhandling (8 fleeces – 4 merino, 4 crosbred): Australia (Alexander Schoff, Tiffany Collins) 28.48pts, New Zealand (Joel Henare, Ngaio Hanson) 37.23pts. Australia won by 8.75pts.

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