This week's New Zealand shearing championships in Te Kuiti seem set to provide a classic showdown after wins by world champion team members and Hawke's Bay guns Cam Ferguson and John Kirkpatrick leading into the event.
It was a particularly special moment for Ferguson when he won the Waitomo CavesShears last Saturday, his first open final win in the North Island since November 2010, the year he won the Golden Shears open final in Masterton and the world individual title in Wales.
And he backed up his latest win with a fourth to Kirkpatrick in the Taranaki Shears final in Stratford on Sunday.
Troubled by a back injury for half this season, Ferguson still managed to win the world teams title with Napier gun Kirkpatrick in Masterton three weeks ago, as well as finish runner-up in the Golden Shears open and world championships individual finals.
He headed for the South Island to get back into winning form, saying after his weekend efforts: "The back's all good. Heaps of work. Back to normal."
The 20-sheep Stratford final was a spectacular affair with just six seconds separating the first four, veteran David Fagan first to the button in 15m 37.02s and showing he's still capable of another big win for the hometown fans in Te Kuiti.
Dion King, of Hastings, was next in 15m 42.19s, just beating Kirkpatrick and defending Taranaki and New Zealand champion Rowland Smith, of Ruawai.
But Kirkpatrick, who in Masterton won the Golden Shears open for a fourth time, got the nod with the better quality.
Hometown hero, 2008 world champion and Coast-to-Coast racer Paul Avery was fifth, dedicating his emergence from (shearing) semi-retirement to wife Debra, who remains in hospital after being seriously injured in a road crash.
A single cut proved a costly blemish for Fagan, relegating him to sixth place, but it was still better than new world champion Gavin Mutch, the Taranaki-based Scotsman whose day away from the Whangamomona farm ended with his elimination in the semifinal.
New Golden Shears champions won two of the other four finals, with Tysson Hema, of Waipukurau, claiming the senior title and Josh Balme, of Te Kuiti, the novice title. The intermediate final was won by Michael Rolston while Keanu Sutton had his maiden junior victory.
The New Zealand championships start tomorrow and end on Saturday.
