The win was in contrast to the first test at Cothi on Saturday, where the black singlets pair was beaten by 7.25pts by Lewis and Llyr Jones.
They go to the final test at the Corwen Shears on Saturday looking for New Zealand’s first shearing test series win in Wales since Buick and Hawke’s Bay shearer Rowland Smith won 3-1 in 2019.
The last New Zealand test match win at the Royal Welsh Show was in 2014, when Fagan’s father, now Sir David Fagan, was joined by injury-replacement Matthew Smith, brother of Rowland Smith and now established farming in Cornwall.
Fagan senior watched the test and the open final himself, getting up early in the morning to see his son in action in live streams of the events.
“An early start but well worthwhile when you see the result that David and Jack had and manager Mark Barrowcliffe,” he told The Country’s Jamie Mackay.
“It’s the first win in Wales for a while.”
Fagan said his son was the only Kiwi who made the final.
“He was the only Kiwi that made it out of the heats, actually.”
He reckoned the final would be a challenge but worth it.
“It’s a really hard one to win but probably the biggest competition you’d want to win in the northern hemisphere.”
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Fagan said he liked the Kiwi teams’ chances in the series decider with Wales.
“They’ve got their tail in the air now, I’ll tell you what, they’ve got some confidence.”
He reckoned this would bode well for the final test.
“If one of our team members has an off time, that leaves a big hole where the Welsh can come in but both our boys ... were rock solid.
Fagan said it was an impressive win, especially against Jones, the 2019 shearing World Champion.
“It’s a pretty good win really.”
Fagan said he’s looking forward to getting up early for the final test match.
“Bring on Corwen on the weekend — hopefully, they can get a series win — that’d be nice.”
