Kiwis eye swift revenge on Welsh

Shearing

New Zealand shearers Rowland Smith and Tony Coster will try to square the ledger at the end of the 2013 Elders Primary Wool UK tour this week after suffering two losses to Wales.

With a defeat to Scotland followed by two wins against England and one over Ulster, the pair succumbed to the Wales team of Gareth Daniel and Richard Jones at the Cothi Shears on Friday and the Lampeter Shears on Saturday.

On Friday, the Welsh won by five points, although there was a close battle for individual honours in which Jones just edged out Smith.

It was much closer at Lampeter, Smith taking the individual honours and only 1.45 points separating the four shearers in the event, before Wales claimed victory by 1.15 points.

Smith won the Cothi Shears Open final, in which non-team tourer, veteran Kiwi and multiple world, Golden Shears and New Zealand champion David Fagan was third.

Fagan had been first to finish, beating Daniel and Smith in shearing the 20 lambs in 12min 32.8s, but Daniel won with the best quality points.

Smith had to settle for second in the Lampeter Shears Open final, Daniel restoring some Welsh pride to the event which had been won by New Zealanders in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

The tour, with the Kiwis holding a 3-3 record from six tests and Wales up 2-0 in their series, ends with tests at the Royal Welsh Show midweek and the Corwen Shears at the weekend.