HB SPRING SHOW: Every man and his dog beat the Australians

ROSE HARDING It was a close-run thing but the Kiwis won in the end. In circumstances dog trials were never supposed to be run in, the Kiwi team cleaned up the Aussies in the transtasman test series at the Hawke's Bay Spring Show yesterday.
The test, held in the main oval in front of the grandstand, was a first for the show.
"But it won't be the last," show society chief executive Michael Pyatt said.
He said Hawke's Bay was now on the dog trial test circuit and the test would be held here every two or three years, "and definitely in the oval".
The small crowd held some enthusiastic Australian team supporters and none more so than Tony Whitehead, from the Riverina district of New South Wales.
The wool grower and cropping sharefarmer said his wife had shouted him the trip as a surprise for his 70th birthday. He was an enthusiastic beginner dog trialist, "no fool like an old fool," and was loving his time here.
Every time one of the Australian team completed a round he stood, waved the flag and gave the war cry "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi".
He knew all the rules of trialing which were surprisingly detailed and his explanations made it much more exciting to watch.
His age was no barrier to his hopes of wearing the green blazer for his country himself one day.
He said New Zealand was way ahead in the overall test score but Australia won the last test in Australia and hoped to do the same at the Hamilton show this weekend.
He was loving his first trip to New Zealand and could not get over how green the country was and how hilly.
"Where I come from is very flat."
Grey hair and cool heads seem to be required to be a member of the two teams of four men and dogs each.
Most of the competitors were over 60 and at least one Australian over 70.
The course rules and obstacles were a mix of Australian and Kiwi rules but trials were usually run out in the country away from distractions of a big show.
The control of the men, the concentration of the dogs and the calm of the sheep as the horse classes continued alongside were impressive.
However, it got to one Australian dog.
When the sheep team captain Jim O'Connell was working with wandered calmly off into a horse class, his dog Lefty seemed to lose his way.
Fortunately the horse stewards stopped the class and guided the sheep and Lefty back on course.
Once he had recovered Lefty and Jim showed why they were representing their country.
Unusually Jim uses a referee's whistle rather than a shepherd's whistle to control Lefty and perhaps he couldn't hear it over the background noise.
It almost happened again for Hamish Richmond and Jill for New Zealand but Jill showed her class for a creditable score of 88.
The run of Paul O'Kane and Evonne Goolagong, an athletic little black dog, was almost brought to disaster by someone on a quad bike who drove right across the course from the showjumping section clutching what looked like a box of Tui cans.
However, they held it together for a creditable score of 91.25 - the Australian team's top score.
Kiwi opener Garry Murphy and his little dog Tana showed everyone how it was done with a score of 92.75.
Murray Wilson and Moss topped up the Kiwi total with 89, David Davey and Kylie had a smooth run for 88.75 and Hamish Richmond and Jill finished on 88.
The Australian scores were: Paul O'Kane and Evonne Goolagong, 91.25; Paul Darmody and Digger, 89; Bill Trembath and Dave, 79.5; and Jim O'Connell 73.75 after his horror run.
Tony Whitehead was a little disappointed with the result but said the results weren't final until the after the Hamilton test when the aggregated scores would be worked out.