New Zealand shearers and woolhandlers chase elusive transtasman treble in Australia

Invercargill shearer Nathan Stratford shearing for New Zealand in a test against Australia at this year's Golden Shears in Masterton. He shears a New Zealand record 17th transtasman test in Jamestown, South Australia, on Saturday. Photo / Pete Nikolaison

The Shearing Sports New Zealand shearing team is off to Australia with strong hopes of winning at least two of the three tests on the away leg of an annual transtasman series.

The Kiwis also have a dream of winning all three.

The test matches, part of a series that started in 1974, will be held on Saturday during the Australian National Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Jamestown - a town about 200km north of Adelaide, with a population of 1600.

New Zealand has won 35 of the 46 woolhandling tests since 1998 and all 14 of the blades tests since the series’ first in 2010.

Therefore, strongest Kiwi hopes are held for woolhandlers Cushla Abraham, of Masterton, and long-time South Otago-based Tia Potae, from Harataunga, near Coromandel town Kennedy Bay, and blades shearers Tony Dobbs, of Fairlie, and Allen Gemmell, of Loburn.

As for machine shearing, veteran Southland gun Nathan Stratford recognises it’s a tougher call for himself and teammates, Roxburgh-based Leon Samuels of Southland and Marlborough shearer and contractor Angus Moore.

Stratford knows his stuff, having shorn 17 tests since a debut at Hay, NSW, in 2006.

New Zealand hasn’t won a machine shearing test in Australia since 2010 and the Aussies have won 37 of the 69 tests since the series started in Euroa, Vic., in 1974.

However, New Zealand’s hopes are bolstered by the strength of the team, with all seven having previously represented their country.

Further hope comes from Stratford, Samuels and Moore - all previous winners of the top all-breeds event, the PGG Wrightson Vetmed National Shearing Circuit.

The trio are also acknowledged performers on the South Island varietals of the fine-wooled Merino.

The big challenge is the tougher Australian Merino - often bigger and with harder skin, bred in and for the tough conditions of the Australian outback.

But the weather is expected to be a little kinder to the Kiwis, with forecasts for maximum temperatures of 31deg for practice on Friday and 19deg for the day of the internationals.

For Abraham, who formed a rookie international partnership with Napier competitor Angela Stevens in the 2022-2023 team, the venture is a chance to score a second win in two tests in Australia.

Abraham and Stevens won last year in Bendigo, Vic., and atone for their loss to veteran Australian international Racheal Hutchison and test-match newcomer Mark Purcell at the Golden Shears in Masterton in March.

Having gained selection last season by winning the New Zealand Merino Shears open woolhandling final in Alexandra, Abraham retained a place by winning the North Island Woolhandling Circuit open final in March and is the only North Island member of the test match’s seven.

PGG Wrightson National Shearing Circuit winner Angus Moore (right) congratulated by former winner Leon Samuels in Masterton last March. The pair now shear for New Zealand on Saturday in South Australia. Photo / Pete Nikolaison

Potae, previously a transtasman international in 2005-2006 and 2013-2014, regained a New Zealand shirt by winning the 2023 Merinos title three weeks ago.

Abraham said anyone wanting to represent New Zealand needed to “apply themselves and work hard”.

She reckoned that, along with the combined experience of the pair, “will be able to give the Aussies a good battle”.

“The Transtasman is all about teamwork,” she said.

“We need to know where each person excels to be able to benefit from that and hopefully get the advantage.”

“Tia is a very accomplished wool classer and I think her experience will shine, and I have been able to be consistent in Merino competition,” she said.

Abraham’s 2022 Merinos win in Alexandra was followed by missing a place in last month’s final by just 0.6pts.

She said it had always been “a passion” to represent New Zealand.

As newcomers last year, Abraham and Stevens “definitely did our homework” and came together “as best we could” to claim the win in Bendigo during their first outing.

Abraham is also a competent shearer, with a string of wins in the lower grades.

Australians Racheal Hutchison and Mark Purcell won this transtasman woolhandling test in Masterton in March. They defend the honour in Australia on Saturday against New Zealanders Cushla Abraham (second from right) and Tia Potae. Photo / Pete Nikolaison

Meanwhile, Stratford, whose six transtasman series wins have all been in Masterton, said the Australians were “the best Merino shearers in the world”.

There are no changes in the Australian line-up, headed by Daniel McIntyre, who has won 11 of his 15 tests.

McIntyre, according to close watchers, would also have successfully defended the New Zealand Merinos title last month had it not been for a blemish in the semi-finals.

He is expected to join his 2023 World Championships teammate Nathan Meaney and third member Sam Mackrill, while veteran Australian representative Johnathan Dalla, close to home in South Australia, will pair with World Championships teammate Andrew Murray in the blades shearing test.

North Canterbury blade shearer Allen Gemmell, seen here at the 2020 World Championships in Wales, is back in a New Zealand team after more than a decade's absence. Photo / Doug Laing / SSNZ

Dalla and Dobbs are two of the world’s most internationally experienced in test matches, Dalla having been a World Championships representative since 2008 and having shorn in all but one of the 14 transtasman match-ups, and Dobbs, a world teams title winner in 2019 and having shorn 10 of the tests.

Team manager and Pio Pio shearing contractor Mark Barrowcliffe, who will also judge during the shearing, said New Zealand had a “bloody strong team” this year.

His confidence came from Samuels already shearing in Australia, after winning the Merinos final in Alexandra, along with strong hopes of winning the woolhandling and blades shearing, plus a better-than-usual chance of claiming the elusive machine-shearing honours.

Also in the party is woolhandling judge Heidi Middleton, of Winton.

While held home and away annually, the transtasman tests were shearing-only for the first 10 years before the competition was suspended, as a consequence of industrial disputes in Australia.

Thirteen years passed before the contests resumed with woolhandling added and it was over a decade later before blades shearing was included again.