Strong field of shearers to compete at Hastings' Royal Show

Rowland Smith, of Hastings, after winning the New Zealand Shearing Championships Open shearing title for a fourth time, at Te Kuiti, last year.

The Royal Show in Hastings this week will field one of the strongest fields of top shearers and woolhandlers ever seen in Hawke's Bay as they strive for the top places in a challenging 10-month World Championships team selection series.

The show, which starts tomorrow and features the annual Great Raihania Shears on Friday, is the last of six points rounds in a series which started at Lumsden, in Southland, in January.

On Friday six shearer and six woolhandlers will be decided to contest series finals at next month's Canterbury Show, when the winners and runners-up will be named to represent New Zealand at the World Championships in Invercargill on February 9-11.

Leading the charge are Hawke's Bay's reigning 2014 World champion shearer, Rowland Smith, and 2012 World woolhandling champion Joel Henare, of Gisborne, who lead their respective series' and who were in ominous form on Saturday in winning the open finals at the Poverty Bay show, the first show in the North Island in the new season.

Smith won his final by more than five points from runner-up and Gisborne shearer Tama Nia Nia, with Napier shearer John Kirkpatrick third in his build-up to represent New Zealand at the World Championships for a fourth time.

Henare totally dominated the board and the tables to win the Poverty Bay show's open woolhandling final for a fifth year in a row.

While Smith and Kirkpatrick have dominated the shearing selection series, and Henare has dominated the woolhandling series, there are tight finishes for the minor placings in the series finals, meaning at least the top eight shearers in New Zealand and the top dozen woolhandlers will compete in the Great Raihania Shears, which are named after past-great Rimitiriu Raihania who, at the Hawke's Bay Show in 1902, won what is thought to have been the first machine shearing competition in the World.

Results from the Poverty Bay A and P Show shearing and woolhandling championships in Gisborne on Saturday, October 16, 2016:

Open final (16 sheep): Rowland Smith (Hastings) 15min 37sec, 57.975pts, 1; Tama Nia Nia (Gisborne) 16min 39sec, 63.325pts, 2; John Kirkpatrick (Napier) 16min 56sec, 63.988pts, 3; David Buick (Pongaroa) 15min 49sec, 67.325pts, 4.

Senior final (8 sheep): Adam Morton (Wairoa) 11min 40sec, 47.25pts, 1; Ricci Stevens (Napier/Gisborne) 11min 52sec, 50.725pts, 2; Paraki Puna (Napier) 11min 33sec, 51.775pts, 3; Nukutai Tuhura (Ruatoria) 12min 26sec, 52.675pts, 4.

Intermediate final (4 sheep): Anaru Wakefield (Porangahau) 7min 31sec, 31.3pts, 1; Te Aohau Te Maipi, 6min 38sec, 40.65pts, 2; Duran Smith (Gisborne) 7min 27sec, 46.35pts, 3; Theresa Aporo-Hall (Martinborough) 7min 3sec, 50.4pts, 4.

Junior final (3 sheep): Carmen Smith (Pongaroa) 7min 36sec, 40.467pts, 1; Koi Ngarangione (Gisborne) 7min 9sec, 44.783pts, 2; Te Rangi Edwards (Gisborne) 12min 5sec, 53.25pts, 3; Hemi White (Rotorua), 12min 11sec, 56.55pts, 4.

Woolhandling:

Open final: Joe Henare (Gisborne) 134.85pts, 1; Amy Karaka (Te Karaka) 225.03pts, 2; Penny Kerekere (Gisborne) 313.97pts, 3; Keryn Herbert (Waimiha/Te Awamutu) 341.63pts, 4.

Senior final: Rahna Williams (Flaxmere) 137.6pts, 1; Theresa Aporo-Hall (Martinborough) 166.6pts, 2; Nadia Mason (Dannevirke) 190.1pts, 3; Vivian Taitapanui (Gisborne) 231.6pts, 4.

Junior final: Bianca Hawea (Masterton) 96.55pts, 1; Lucas Broughton (Patea) 115.8pts, 2; Whati Turipa (Tolaga Bay), 122.9pts, 3; Tira Ngarangione (Gisborne) 130pts, 4.

Novice final: D.J. Crawford (Gisborne), 46.4pts, 1; Iriesha Carrington- Hingston Gisborne) 60.11pts, 2; Paerata Abraham (Masterton) 65.27pts, 3; Ereti Hinaki (Gisborne) 72.74pts, 4.