Hawke's Bay guns set for Golden Shears showdown

New Zealand shearer John Kirkpatrick with teammate Nathan Stratford as the pair restore Kiwi supremacy in global teams machine shearing.

Hawke's Bay has a prime chance of claiming the Golden Shears Open shearing title for an eighth time in 10 years in a possible showdown next week in Masterton between defending champion Rowland Smith and new world champion John Kirkpatrick.

But despite 46-year-old Kirkpatrick's recent career peak at the world championships in Invercargill, in a 20-sheep final mixing lambs, longwool and second-shear, the favourite is likely to be 30-year-old Smith, who, while missing selection in the New Zealand team and a defence of the world title he won in Ireland in 2014, has dominated competition in New Zealand over the past 18 months.

His 19 wins last season, including his third Golden Shears Open title in Masterton and fourth New Zealand Open title in Te Kuiti, have been followed by 13 this season, including the Southland All Nations Open final during the world championships.

Kirkpatrick, who in 2002 won the first of four Golden Shears Open titles by becoming the first person to beat legend - and now Sir - David Fagan in the final in more than 12 years, and now has more Open wins to his name than anyone else apart from the Te Kuiti great, has had to settle for second place more times than he cares to remember in a comeback after missing most of the 2014-2015 season with injury.

But the popular win in Invercargill, in his fourth world championships, showed a grit which will be hard to deny in the cauldron of the Golden Shears next Thursday-to-Saturday.

Smith is expected to start favourite when the TAB opens betting on the big event on Tuesday, as will world champion woolhandler Joel Henare, of Gisborne, in defence of the Open woolhandling title.

Hawke's Bay's biggest hopes of other titles are headed by Waipawa's Aaron Bell, who won the Southland All Nations senior final, and also just missed out on a place in the world championships semifinal, shearing for the Cook Islands. Others with recent wins are open woolhandler Rahna Williams, of Flaxmere, and senior woolhandler Angela Stevens.

It's been a big month for Smith, who last weekend won three Open finals within 24 hours, in Gore and Pukekohe, thought to be only the fourth shearer to claim a century of Open finals.
He is a finalist in the upcoming inaugural Rural Sports Awards Sportsman of the Year category, as Southern Hawke's Bay's world farm-fencing champion.

Stevens is a finalist in the Young Sportsperson of the Year category, while 13-times Golden Pliers fencing champion Paul Van Beers, of Porangahau, is a finalist in a Contribution to Rural Sports category.