Shearing: Leon Samuels wins New Zealand Shears Open final in Te Kuiti

Southland shearer Leon Samuels in Te Kuiti. Photo / SSNZ

Southland’s Leon Samuels has cemented his place in the New Zealand team to compete at the World Championships, by winning the New Zealand Shears open final in Te Kuiti on Saturday night.

In doing so, he became the first South Island shearer to win either the New Zealand Shears or Golden Shears open title in three decades - since Edsel Forde, also from Southland, won at Masterton in 1989 and Te Kuiti in 1993.

In front of a packed Les Munro Centre, the 39-year-old claimed the second New Zealand team machine-shearing berth for the World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Scotland on June 22-25, joining Hawke’s Bay shearer Rowland Smith, who secured his place by winning the Golden Shears Open for an eighth time four weeks ago.

Smith was third in Te Kuiti, while attempting to collect his eighth win in that event also.

Samuels, originally from Mangakino in the central North Island, had been based in Southland for more than two decades, before moving with wife Ngawai to Roxburgh, in Central Otago, in 2020.

He’s made good on more than one raid back in the North Island.

On Waitangi day in 2021, his win at the Aria Sports in King Country was the first by any South Island shearer in an open-class final anywhere in the North Island in 11 years.

Two months later, he was back to win the country’s two biggest multi-wools events in Te Kuiti – the town’s New Zealand Shears Circuit final and the PGG Wrightson National Shearing Circuit final, which was unable to be held in the regular venue Masterton because of a Covid-19 cancellation of the Golden Shears.

Samuels was first to finish Saturday night’s final - his 15min 6.05sec being one of the fastest times ever in a 20-sheep final in New Zealand.

With little to fault in terms of his quality, Samuels claimed the title by 1.274 points from Northland speedster Toa Henderson, who finished second-off-the-board in 15min 12.53sec, in his first New Zealand Shears, or Golden Shears, open final.

But it wasn’t always going so well for Samuels, who trailed at first, as Southern Hawke’s Bay farmer, Scotland international and former World and Golden Shears champion Gavin Mutch blasted his first three sheep out in 2min 6sec.

Henderson then took charge, being in front until Samuels reined him in with four sheep to go.

Smith was third to finish, taking 15min 31.53sec, but uncharacteristically incurred the most penalties on the shearing board.

While missing the ultimate prize, it was a major achievement for Henderson, who has shorn in 15 finals during the season, as far-afield as Kaikohe and Balclutha, winning 11.

Henderson also had the misfortune to gash his left arm dropping into the long blow on the first eight sheep in the quarterfinals earlier on Saturday.

With the forearm heavily bandaged, he made it successfully through that and the semi-final, where he “banged” it again - leading to a rushed trip to the hospital for three stitches on the outside and nine inside to hold him together for his biggest moment in shearing.

Fourth overall was second Southland finalist Nathan Stratford, while Mutch finished fifth, and sixth was Masterton shearer David Gordon, who had been top qualifier in making his first Open final at Te Kuiti or Masterton.

A former multi-stand lambs and solo ewes record holder, Samuels had little competition before 2019, when he picked up a UK fare that had been won by Stratford, caught a train from Paris to Le Dorat in France and went direct from the railway station to shear in the French All-Nations heats run in conjunction with that year’s World Championships.

He was eliminated in those heats, but it was enough to inspire him to something much greater, on which he embarked with a win in the Otago Shears Open final in February 2020.

After this year’s World Championships, Samuels will be joined for black-singlets test matches in England and Wales by Masterton shearer Paerata Abraham, who won his place on tour with victory in the New Zealand Shears Circuit final, four weeks after wife Cushla retained her place in the New Zealand trans-Tasman series woolhandling team by winning the North Island Woolhandling Circuit final in Masterton.

Smith won the North Island Shearer of the Year final on Friday, meaning the three Open shearing titles decided at the championships were won by three different competitors, for the first time since 2016.

RESULTS from the New Zealand Shears shearing and woolhandling championships at Te Kuiti on Thursday-Saturday, March 30-April 1, 2023:

Shearing:

New Zealand Shears Open final (20 sheep): Leon Samuels (Invercargill) 15min 6.05sec, 52.153pts, 1; Toa Henderson (Kaiwaka) 15min 12.53sec, 53.427pts, 2; Rowland Smith (Maraekakaho) 13min 51.53sec, 53.977pts, 3; Nathan Stratford (Invercargill) 16min 43.37sec, 55.969pts, 4; Gavin Mutch (Scotland/Dannevirke) 15min 51.36sec, 57.168pts, 5; David Gordon (Masterton) 16min 13.77sec, 57.889pts, 6.

New Zealand Shears Open Plate (10 sheep): John Kirkpatrick (Napier) 9min 12.38sec, 33.419pts, 1; Jack Fagan (Te Kuiti) 8min 18.33sec, 34.717pts, 2; Dean Ball (Te Kuiti) 9min 10.84sec, 34.842pts, 3; Mark Grainger (Te Kuiti) 9min 3.43sec, 36.572pts, 4; Casey Bailey (Riverton) 9min 56.82sec, 38.141pts, 5; Digger Balme (Otorohanga) 8min 23.5sec, 40.875pts, 6.

New Zealand Shears Circuit final (5 merinos, 5 second-shear, 5 lambs): Paerata Abraham (Masterton) 15min 34.72sec, 61.469pts, 1; Hemi Braddick (Eketahuna) 16min 6.41sec, 61.588pts, 2; Nathan Stratford (Invercargill) 16min 50.18sec, 61.709pts, 3; Leon Samuels (Invercargill) 15min 24.17sec, 62.009pts, 4; Rowland Smith (Maraekakaho) 16min 34.53sec, 63.193pts, 5; Digger Balme (Otorohanga) 15min 26.48sec, 66.591pts, 6.

North Island Shearer of the Year final (20 sheep – 10 ewes, 10 lambs): Rowland Smith (Maraekakaho) 15min 67.37sec, 52.934pts, 1; Toa Henderson (Kaiwaka) 15min 11.65sec, 53.733pts, 2; Leon Samuels (Invercargill) 15min 51.25sec, 54.813pts, 3; John Kirkpatrick (Napier) 16min 13.27sec, 55.864pts, 4; Gavin Mutch (Scotland/Dannevirke) 15min 12.64sec, 56.082pts, 5; Nathan Stratford (Invercargill) 17min 42.2sec, 57.66pts, 6.