Homeward bound after shears demise

Hawke's Bay shearer Rowland Smith, watched over by brother Matthew, during last week's World record of 644 ewes in nine hours in England. Photo / Simon Brock

Hawke's Bay shearers John Kirkpatrick and Rowland Smith are on their way home from their month-long CP Wool New Zealand team tour of the UK which ended with some disappointment in Wales on Saturday.

Shearing at the Corwen Shears in Denbighshire, new world champion John Kirkpatrick and former champion Rowland Smith were beaten by Wales for the fourth time in a row and also had to be content with the minor placings in the Corwen Shears Open final, which has otherwise been dominated by New Zealand shearers over the years.

Winning the test by three points, Welsh combination Gwion Lloyd Evans and Richard Jones took Wales to their first 4-0 series win over the Kiwis. New Zealand have not had an away series win over Wales since 2011, despite having never been beaten by Wales in a test match in New Zealand.

Smith, the reigning Golden Shears and New Zealand Open champion, also just missed out on one last individual title on the tour, finishing runner-up in the Corwen Shears Open final.

He was, however, just three-tenths of a point from winner Matthew Evans, of Wales.

Defending champion Kirkpatrick was fifth after copping a maximum 5 point penalty during the six-man final over 20 sheep each.

New Zealand faced seven tests on tour, claiming two wins, both against England, after starting the tour with a narrow loss to Scotland at the Lochearnhead Shears on July 1.

Smith, who won his World title in Ireland in 2014 and who, in February, claimed his 10th Open-final win, shore in finals of four of the five Open all-nations events in which he competed on tour.

He won in the second outing, at the Lakeland Shears in Cumbria, on July 8, and three second placings included being runner-up to brother and now Cornwall farmer Matthew Smith in the Great Yorkshire Open.

Rowland Smith had his biggest moment of the month when he shore a World record of 644 strongwool ewes in eight hours last Monday, at the Trefranck Farm property his brother farms near St Clether, Cornwall.

Shearing four consecutive two-hour runs of 161 sheep - eight more than the previous best for a two-hour run during such a record attempt - Smith beat the previous record, set by Southland shearer Leon Samuels in February near Gore, by 39 sheep.

Averaging 44.72 seconds a sheep caught, shorn and dispatched, with some under 35 seconds' shearing, Smith rejoined his in the record books, Matthew Smith having in July last year on the same property smashed the nine-hour record with a total of 731, an average of 44.32secs each.

Kirkpatrick, who in Invercargill in February won the World Championships final at his fourth attempt, shore in six of the seven Open all-nations finals on tour, and won at the Lampeter Shears in Wales on July 2, when test-match newcomer Jack Fagan, substituting for Smith, was runner-up.

Results from the Corwen Shears on Saturday:
CP Wool Shearing Sports New Zealand UK Tour Test Series (20 sheep): Wales 96.9pts (Gwion Lloyd Evans 12min 31sec, 47.15pts; Richard Jones 13min 43sec, 49.75pts) beat New Zealand 99.9pts (Rowland Smith 13min 6sec, 49.85pts; John Kirkpatrick 13min 11sec, 50.5pts), by 3pts. Wales win the series 4-0.

Corwen Shears Open final (20 sheep): Matthew Evans (Wales) 12min 8sec, 47.4pts, 1; Rowland Smith (New Zealand) 12min 11sec, 47.7pts, 2; Gareth Daniel (Wales) 12min 42sec, 49.75pts, 3; Richard Jones (Wales) 13min 36sec, 50.3pts, 4; John Kirkpatrick (New Zealand) 12min 39sec, 54.6pts, 5; Gwion Lloyd Evans (Wales) 11min 55sec, 54.85pts, 6.