Australian blade shearer Daniel Rogers scored his second trans-Tasman win.

AUSTRALIAN sheep shearers and wool handlers achieved a rare feat to win all three trans-Tasman tests – machine and blade shearing, and wool handling – against New Zealand teams at Warrnambool last Friday.

The tests at the Australian National Shearing and Wool Handling Championships pitched the top athletes in the three sections against each other before a loud crowd at the Warrnambool Showgrounds.

It is believed to be the first time that three Australian trans-Tasman teams have won simultaneously at the same host event.

Work on blade pace pays off

Blade shearer John Dalla’s arm is a blur as he pushes toward victory.

In the blade shearing, South Australian John Dalla and Victorian Daniel Rogers managed victory by just 0.65 points from the Kiwis Scott McKay and Allan Oldfield, defending their win against the NZ pair at the New Zealand Spring Shears in Waimate just two weeks ago.

The Sports Shear Australia score sheets show that the Aussie blade shearers, although finishing their four sheep slower than the New Zealanders, both collected fewer board and outside penalty points to wind up victorious with 111.55 points, versus the 112.20 points of McKay and Oldfield.

Australian blade shearing champion Dalla said it was fantastic to win all three trans-Tasmans on the same day.

“It was the first time in history we’ve been able to win all three on the same day, it was just an honour really to be part of the team that did it.”

Dalla said the Australian blade shearers had always had good quality in the trans-Tasman events, but had struggled with pace.

“So we’ve worked really hard on that, especially since the world championships in March.

“We’ve maintained our quality while increasing speed and we’re putting it together now,” he said.

“It’s probably more so technique; pattern on the sheep and getting the sheep in a better position so we can hit out blows directly and take probably bigger faster blows.”

The Australians’ win was just the third Australian trans-Tasman blade shearing test win in more than 20 internationals dating back to 2010.

Communication and a plan wins wool test

Winners are grinners: Australian trans-Tasman wool handlers Racheal Hutchison and Alex Schoff.

In the wool handling, Queenslander and current Australian champion Alexander ‘Slim’ Schoff paired with New South Wales champion Racheal Hutchison.

He said the victory came from working as a team with a plan.

“It was a good plan, we stuck to it and it paid off.”

Alexander said communication during the event was a “big thing.”

“Communication works – communication is a big thing for any team event really.

“We were confident with what we did, we felt good – it was nice.”

Newcomers score their first trans-Tasman shearing win

Trans-Tasman team captain Sam Bacon.

Sam Byers.

In the machine shearing trans-Tasman test, the then-Australian champion Sam Bacon, took the board with former national champion Daniel McIntyre and Sam Byers, against the New Zealanders Duncan Leslie, Toa Henderson and Jack Fagan.

The Australians as a group sheared through their six crossbred and six Merinos faster and cleaner than the Kiwis, winning by a clear margin of 34 penalty points: 236.82 points versus 270.82 points.

It was the first time Bacon and Byers had competed in a trans-Tasman team, but they kept their total quality points below or within a few points of the New Zealanders, shearing their sheep in under 20 minutes.

Daniel McIntyre said Australia had some good young shearers coming through.

“Probably why they haven’t consistently been in the team is because there are so many good young shearers coming through, they keep swapping round.”

Daniel said he had now competed in 24 trans-Tasman tests over 11 years.

“They always struggle a bit on the Merinos and we struggle on the crossbreds.”

The New Zealanders were striving for their country’s first machine shearing win over Australia in Australia since 2010, with Australian shearers now having records 14 consecutive trans-Tasman wins at home.

NSW shearer Daniel McIntyre has competed in 24 trans-Tasman tests.