Golden Shears World Championships: NZ shearing and woolhandling team named

Shearing Sports New Zealand World Championships team members, Toa Henderson (left), Marika Braddick and Rowland Smith, after Braddick and Smith snatched the last places on Saturday. The three other members did not compete at Marton. Photo / Shearing Sports New Zealand

Selection of the Shearing Sports New Zealand team for the 2026 Golden Shears World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships next month has been completed, with two finals deciding the second machine shearing and woolhandling team members.

Competing at the Rangitīkei Shearing Sports North Island Championships on Saturday, Hawke’s Bay shearer and 2014 world champion Rowland Smith won the shearing showdown, and the woolhandling final was won by Marika Braddick, of Eketahuna.

The New Zealand team is made up of six members, two machine shearers, two blades shearers and two woolhandlers.

Toa Henderson, of Kaiwaka, had previously claimed the first machine shearing position in an eight-round series dating back almost a year.

Joel Henare, of Motueka, had won a woolhandling series of six rounds, each series leaving the next six to fight the sudden-death showdown at Marton.

Blades shearers Allan Oldfield, from Geraldine, and Tony Dobbs, of Fairlie, claimed their places in November, at the end of a separate series in the South Island, and will be out to reclaim the titles they won in France in 2019.

The 2026 championships will be held during the 63^rd Golden Shears International Championships in Masterton on March 4-7.

It was a particular moment on Saturday for Braddick, who had never won an open final, as had been the case with sister and fellow series finalist Ngaio Hanson in 2023, when she won a place at the last world championships in Scotland.

Smith, whose opposition in Masterton will include his brother and England representative Matt Smith, revealed that, having done comparatively little shearing in the summer, he was close to giving up on the chance to represent New Zealand at a world championships for a fourth time.

He said that a fortnight earlier it wasn’t “happening,” and it took a pep-talk from his wife and former shearer Ingrid, before deciding that if he was going to complete the selection series, he should give it his best shot.

With the brothers having grown up at Ruawai and Henderson being from Kaiwaka, Northland has produced three top hopes for the machine shearing title, with the biggest opposition expected to come from defending champion Gwion Evans, of Wales, and 2012 champion and Hawke’s Bay farmer and Scotland international Gavin Mutch.

New Zealand has gone without winning any of the machine shearing individual or team titles at the past two world championships, and in 2023, in Edinburgh, did not win any of the six titles at stake across machine and blades shearing and woolhandling.

Results of the final stages of the Shearing Sports New Zealand Championships team selection

Marton on Saturday, the winner of each joins those previously selected:

Woolhandling final (10 fleeces – 5 long wool, 5 second shear): Marika Braddick (Eketahuna) 149.856pts, 1; Cushla Abraham (Masterton) 167.914pts, 2; Pagan Rimene (Alexandra) 169.132pts, 3; Ngaio Hanson (Eketahuna) 172.718pts, 4; Tia Potae (Milton/Kennedy Bay) 177.1pts,5; Foonie Waihape (Alexandra) 207.762pts, 6.

Shearing final (20 sheep – 10 long wool, 10 second-shear): Rowland Smith (Maraekakaho) 17m 4.72s, 58.436pts, 1; Hemi Braddick (Eketahuna) 17m 6.58s, 58.979pts, 2; Nathan Stratford (Invercargill) 17m 52.31s, 60.566pts, 3; David Buick (Pongaroa) 17m 19.86s, 61.493pts, 4; Casey Bailey (Riverton) 17m 54.27s, 61.614pts, 5; Jack Fagan (Te Kuiti) 16m 47.3s, 64.565pts, 6.

Shearing Sports New Zealand team

For the 2026 Golden Shears World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Masterton on March 4-7.

Machine shearers: Toa Henderson (Kaiwaka), Rowland Smith (Maraekakaho).

Blades shearers: Allan Oldfield (Geraldine), Tony Dobbs (Fairlie);

Woolhandlers: Joel Henare (Gisborne/Motueka), Marika Braddick (Eketahuna).

The manager is Bart Hadfield (Wairoa).