Monica Potae on her way to winning the New Zealand Merino Shears open wool handling title in Alexandra on Saturday. Photo – Barbara Newton.

NEW Zealand’s trans-Tasman shearing and wool handling team will have two new members after two surprise wins at the national Merino championships in Alexandra on Friday and Saturday.

The open shearing title was won by Duncan Leslie, of Owaka, and the open wool handling title by Monica Potae, from Kennedy Bay, Coromandel, making them reigning finewool champions of New Zealand.

It was Leslie’s first open final win, with his previous biggest successes being the senior titles at the New Zealand Corriedale Championships in Christchurch in 2019 and the New Zealand Winter Comb Championship almost a year later in Waimate.

On Saturday, the 32 year-old, who grew up on a farm near Owaka in the Catlions, was sixth of 36 in the heats and was No 1 in the quarterfinals, and just scraped into the six-man final – last-man-in by just 0.216 points from 2023 winner Leon Samuels, of Roxburgh.

But he then was a comfortable winner of the final of 12 sheep each, beating runner-up David Gordon, of Masterton, by 8.464 points, with another 2.454 points to third place-getter and Invercargill veteran Nathan Stratford, who has won the title five times, had 14 top-three finishes, and was in the final for a 21st time since 2002.

Gordon won the race, shearing the 12 sheep in 23m 11m 55s, beating next-man-off Leslie by just over a minute, but Leslie had comfortably the best quality points, both in on-board judging and in the pens, for a total 6.25 points better than the next best of legendary quality shearer Stratford.

Potae has been an open class wool handler for 26 years, but her win was just her third, the next-most-recent having been at the Rotorua A and P Show’s Agrodome Shears in 2023. Her previous best at Alexandra had been third placings in 2009 and 2017.

At the weekend, she was 10th of 16 into the semi-finals, that saw the elimination of defending champion and reigning world and Golden Shears open champion Joel Henare, of Motueka. Potae qualified in third place of four for the final of five fleeces each, where, claiming best time and board points, she won by just 1.304 points from runner-up and five-times winner Pagan Rimene, of Alexandra.

Leslie and Potae win selection in the New Zealand team for test matches against Australia during the Australian Championships at Warrnambool, Victoria, on October 29-31, and the Golden Shears in Masterton, on March 4-6.

Central Otago shearer Duncan Leslie during the New Zealand Merino Championships open shearing final in Alexandra on Saturday. Photo – Barbara Newton.

In the team shearing team, Leslie will join Golden Shears open shearing champion Toa Henderson, of Kaiwaka, Northland, and PGG Wrightson Vetmed National Shearing Circuit champion Jack Fagan, of Te Kuiti. In the wool handling, Potae will team up with 2026 North Island Woolhandling Circuit winner Ngaio Hanson, of Eketahuna.

South Island bladeshearers representatives Allan Oldfield, from Geraldine, and Scott McKay, of Kaikoura, will shear a trans-Tasman test at the New Zealand Spring Shears being held in Waimate next Friday and Saturday (October 9-10), and also at Warrnambool.

The team manager and shearing judge will be Chris Jones, of Renwick, and the wool handling judge will be Amber Casserley, of Kaitangata, Balclutha.

The championships, the first event of the 2026-2027 Shearing Sports New Zealand season, attracted 48 shearers (open 36, senior 12) and 71 wool handlers (open 32, senior 17 and junior 22).

Leslie, who was shearing in just his second Alexandra final and only started to think he had a chance when he finished and saw four others still had sheep in their pens, shakes his head when he realises that in less than four weeks’ time he’ll be wearing a black singlet with a silver fern and representing New Zealand in a test match.

“It’s pretty unreal,” he said.

His only previous shearing in Australia was about two months in West Australia in 2020.

The senior shearing final was won by accomplished Gore shearer Cody Waihape, by more than 12 points from first-year senior and former No 1-ranked junior and Intermediate shearer Tye Meikle, of Oamaru.

The senior wool handling final was won by Chiquita Tamepo, who won the Golden Shears junior title in 2015. The junior wool handling final was won by Lilly Manson, of Piopio.

Next weekend’s Waimate shears will also include intermediate, junior and novice shearing, the national Winter Comb Open and Senior Shearing Cchampionships, and the finals of the South Island open, senior and junior wool handling circuits.

North Island competitions start with the Poverty Bay A and P Show on October 16-17.

Results from the 2026 New Zealand Merino Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Alexandra on October 2-3, 2026

Shearing

Open final (12 sheep): Duncan Leslie (Alexandra) 24m 12.28s, 94.781pts, 1; David Gordon (Masterton) 23m 11.55s, 103.245pts, 2; Nathan Stratford (Invercargill) 25m 45.64s, 105.699pts, 3; Jack Fagan (Te Kuiti) 25m 6.38s, 109.236pts, 4; Simon Goss (Whanganui) 27m 50.77s, 126.123ptrs, 5; Grant Smith (Rakaia) 31m 30.11s, 143.423pts, 6.

Senior final (four merino fleeces): Cody Waihape (Gore) 13m 53.02s, 73.151pts, 1; Tye Meikle (Oamaru) 15m 38.34s, 85.167pts, 2; Reuben O’Neill (Alexandra) 17m 53.73s, 90.437pts, 3; Levi Uluakiahoia (Taupo) 15m 45.09s, 90.505pts, 4; Kyle Rhodes (Hunterville) 13m 46.5s, 94.575pts, 5; Jadas Guelphi (Gisborne) 13m 31.38s, 96.319pts, 6.

Wool handling

Open final (five merino fleeces): Monica Potae (Kennedy Bay) 195.02pts, 1; Pagan Rimene (Alexandra) 196.324pts, 2; Misty Rose Kokiri Elers (Mataura) 201.044pts, 3; Foonie Waihape (Alexandra) 297.8pts, 4.

Senior final (three merino fleeces): Chiquita Tamepo (Hastings) 124.674pts, 1; Marama Timmins (Tolaga Bay) 132.982pts, 2; Lucy Elers (Mataura) 179.15pts, 3; Ashley Clarke (Gore) 190.47pts, 4.

Junior final (three merino fleeces): Lilly Manson (Piopio) 134.25pts, 1; Legacy Hiroti (Raetoihi) 236.47pts, 2; Shay Stewart (Napier) 237.79pts, 3; Shahni Whitu (Roxburgh) 250.41pts, 4.

Source, Doug Laing, SSNZ.