NEW Zealand’s top shearers and wool handlers secured a winning double in the Trans Tasman Trophy series at the 56th Golden Shears in Masterton NZ last week.

On Friday, the New Zealand wool handling team of former world champions Joel Henare and Sheree Alabaster completed a 2-0 home-and-away Trans Tasman Trophy series win with a comfortable victory over Australia.

Henare, of Gisborne, and Alabaster, of Taihape, beat Australian representatives Racheal Hutchison and Angela Wakely, both from New South Wales.

The two Kiwis were the form pair since winning a test in Hamilton, Victoria, in September, making up for the surprise home defeat of former New Zealand test pairing Ronnie Goss and Keryn Herbert in Masterton 12 months ago.

Henare has scored a series of wins throughout New Zealand during the summer and later won his fourth consecutive Golden Shears Open wool handling championships on the final day of the Golden Shears on Saturday).

Alabaster, a multiple winner of the New Zealand Open title in Te Kuiti, but yet to win a Golden Shears title, is in a rich patch, winning at the Apiti Shears last Saturday and the Pre-Shears Championship north of Masterton on Wednesday. She came second in the open wool handling final on Saturday.

She said she had minimal preparation, but with the skills developed over more than 20 years since first taking to wool handling as a 13-year-old, there were a few things that came naturally, and it worked.

“We’re pretty happy,” she said. “You can never underestimate the Aussies.”

Trans Tasman wool handling tests have been contested home-and-away since 1998, New Zealand having now won  27 and Australia 9.

In the Lister Shearing Trans Tasman shearing test on Saturday, the New Zealanders ended Australia’s run of five consecutive TT victories.

Shearing six Merinos, three longwools and three second-shear sheep, New Zealand’s Tony Coster, Aaron Haynes and Troy Pyper finished with 249.918 points to defeat Australia’s Shannon Warnest, Daniel McIntyre and Justin Dolphin with 262.502 points.

Full 56th Golden Shears finals results

International: CP Wool Trans Tasman Wool handling test (8 fleeces per team – 4 merino, 4 longwool): New Zealand (Joel Henare, Gisborne, and Sheree Alabaster, Taihape) 298.17pts, beat Australia (Racheal Hutchison, Gilgandra, NSW, and Angela Wakely, Yeoval, NSW) 396.61pts.

Lister Shearing Trans Tasman Trophy Shearing test (12 sheep – 6 merino, 3 longwool, 3 second-shear): New Zealand 249.918pts (Tony Coster 16min 58.904sec, 81.695pts; Aaron Haynes 17mon36.487sec, 83.324pts; Troy Pyper 16min 27.98sec, 84.899pts) beat Australia (Shannon Warnest 16min 55.277sec, 81.43pts; Daniel McIntyre 17min 47.91sec, 86.312pts; Justin Dolphin 19min 31.856sec, 94.76pts) 262.502pts.

Shearing

Golden Shears Open final (20 sheep): Rowland Smith (Hastings) 16min 47.711sec, 59.836pts, 1; John Kirkpatrick (Napier) 17min 14.194sec, 62.01pts, 2; Troy Pyper (Winton) 18min 31.737sec, 67.737pts, 3; Dion King (Alfredton and Hastings) 17min 45.371sec, 70.869pts, 4; David Buick (Pongaroa) 16min 43.936sec, 72.497pts, 5; Paerate Abraham (Masterton and Dannevirke) 15min 50.234sec, 75.912pts, 6.

PGG Wrightson National Circuit final (15 sheep – 3 merino, 3 corriedale, 3 long wool, 3 second-shear, 3 lambs): Tony Coster (Rakaia) 19min 6.100sec, 79.301pts, 1; Troy Pyper (Winton) 18min 38.229sec, 81.311pts, 2; David Buick (Pongaroa) 18min 51.262sec, 82.697pts, 3; Nathan Stratford (Invercargill) 18min 56.398sec, 83.087pts, 4; John Kirkpatrick (Napier) 18min 53.793sec, 83.223pts, 5; AngusMoore (Kaitangata and Ward) 19min 46.746sec, 84.804pts, 6.

Golden Shears Senior final (12 sheep): Guy Fraser (Taumarunui) 14min 0.428sec, 53.605pts, 1; Whanake Whare (Taumarunui) 14min 0.43sec, 55.772pts, 2; Aaron Bell (Waipawa) 14min 29.848sec, 57.826pts, 3; Dylan McGruddy (Masterton) 14min 11.978sec, 58.265pts, 4; Kaleb Foote (Waikaretu) 14min 14.453sec, 59.389pts, 5; Darren Alexander (Whangamomona) 14min 25.889sec, 61.294pts, 6.

Golden Shears Intermediate final (8 sheep): Tegwyn Bradley (Woodville) 12min 9.865sec, 44.493pts, 1; Lionel Taumata (Gore) 11min 4.444sec, 47.097pts, 2; Paraki Puna (Napier) 11min 47.136sec, 47.232pts, 3; Jaycob Brunton (Levin) 12min 6.556sec, 47.703pts, 4; Ricci Stevens (Gisborne and Napier) 11min 59.008sec, 50.075pts, 5; James McKenzie (Wales) 12min 24.084sec, 51.579pts, 6.

Golden Shears Junior final (5 sheep): Sam Davison (Masterton) 9min 39.108sec, 40.555pts, 1; Brandon Maguire-Ratima (Winton) 10min 48.348sec, 43.017pts, 2; Cody Greig (Levin) 9min 10.765sec, 43.538pts, 3; Connor Puha (Kimbolton) 10min 39.625sec, 44.181pts, 4; Rhys Doug Las (Wales) 9min 53.066sec, 48.253pts, 5; Gwydion Davies (Wales) 9min 38.183sec, 48.909pts, 6.

Golden Shears Novice final (2 sheep): Darren Bryant (Levin) 8min 11.522sec, 36.076pts, 1; Joseph Gordon (Masterton) 8min 26.383sec, 46.319pts, 2; Sarah Jane Reid (Taihape) 9min 36.7sec, 46.835pts, 3; Leam Pritchard (Pongaroa) 9min 34.95sec, 49.748pts, 4; Mark Baxter (Pongaroa) 8min 8.136sec, 52.407pts, 5; Nathan Handy (Whangamata) 7min 42.221sec, 59.611pts, 6.

Maori-Pakeha Teams (5 sheep each): Jimmy Samuels (Marton) and Murray Henderson (Feilding) 78.225pts, 1; Hemi Braddick (Eketahuna) and Mark Garinger (Te Kuiti) 80.75pts, 2; Shelford Wilcox (Gisborne) and Andy Mainland (Invercargill) 88.629pts, 3.

Tui Encouragement Invitation, maiden Open shearing (6 sheep): Brett Roberts (Mataura) 6min 46.225sec, 28.311pts, 1; Jack Fagan (Te Kuiti) 7min 4.616sec, 30.898pts, 2; Peter Jackson (Palmerston North) 7min 30.325sec, 33.516pts, 3; Turi Edmonds (Raetihi) 6min 48.714sec, 34.769pts, 4; Matene Mason (Masterton) 7min 33.782sec, 35.856pts, 5; Ethan Pankhurst (Masterton) 7min 49.946sec, 38.664pts, 6.

Wool handling

Golden Shears Open final (10 fleeces – 6 longwool, 4 second-shear): Joel Henare (Gisborne) 219.468pts, 1; Sheree Alabaster (Taihape) 248.22pts, 2; Ronnie Goss (Mangamahu Valley and Kimbolton) 253.958pts, 3; Keryn Herbert (Waimiha and Te Awamutu) 262.22pts, 4.

North Island Circuit Open final (6 fleeces – 3 longwool, 3 second-shear): Joel Henare (Gisborne) 116.512pts, 1; Sheree Alabaster (Taihape) 159.694pts, 2; Maryanne Baty (Gisborne) 182.22pts, 3; Keryn Herbert (Waimiha and Te Awamutu) 205.694pts, 4.

Golden Shears Senior final (4 fleeces): Denise Murray (Alexandra) 187.474pts, 1; Ebony Turipa (Gore) 212.99pts, 2; Brittany Tibble (Gisborne) 215.51pts, 3; Hannah Spiers (Eketahuna) 267.04pts, 4.

Golden Shears Junior final (4 fleeces): Nya Kerekere (Gisborne) 190.102pts, 1; Bianca Hawea (Masterton) 191.892pts, 2; Kiriana Brown (Martinborough) 202.304pts, 3; Samantha Jo Tipene (Pahiatua) 205.632pts, 4.

Golden Shears Novice final (1 fleece): Dayna Rutene (Gisborne) 76.148pts, 1; Cheyenne Walker (Masterton) 77.572pts, 2; Catherine Mullooly (Matawai) 89.426pts, 3; Chiara Kirikiri (Masterton) 91.918pts, 4.

Wool pressing

Men’s Final: Jeremy Goodger (Masterton) 57.25pts, 1; James Goodger (Masterton) 57.9pts, 2.

Women’s Final: Awhina Namana (Masterton) 76.15pts, 1; Cushla Abraham (Masterton) 123.1pts, 2.

Pairs Final: Jeremy and Vinnie Goodger (Masterton) 40.25pts, 1; Cameron and Jono Hicks (Marton) 109.1pts, 2.

Triathlon (shearing, wool handling, wool pressing): Vinnie Goodger (Masterton) 162.602pts, 1; Carmen Smith (Pongaroa) 199.717pts, 2; Linton Palmer (Dipton) 230.325pts, 3; Catherine Mullooly (Matawai) 230.976pts, 4; Jeremy Goodger (Masterton) 234.018pts, 5; Ronald Eriha (Hastings) 246.98pts, 6.

Young Farmers Clubs

YFC Bue Ribbon shearing (6 sheep):  Aaron Haynes (Taranaki/Manawatu) 6min 57.695sec, 32.052pts, 1; Mark Grainger (Waikato/BOP) 7min 18.04sec, 32.763pts, 2; Jack Fagan (Waikato/BOP) 7min 13.708sec, 34.351pts, 3; Kaleb Foote (Waikato/BOP) 7min 33.196sec, 34.827pts, 4; Jimmy Samuels (Taranaki/Manawatu) 7min 24.555sec, 36.728pts, 5; Guy Fraser (Wauikato/BOP) 8min 21.175sec, 37.393pts, 6.

NZ Young Farmers Teams event: Southland (sheers Corey Palmer/Linton Palmer, woolhandlers Joel Henare/Jayden Pattison) 221.027pts, 1; Tasman (shearers Aaron Bell/Ethan Pankhurst, woolhandlers Sarah Higgins/Samantha Gordon) 261.84pts, 2; Taranaki/Manawatu (shearers Cameron Hicks/Aaron Haynes, woolhandlers Jimmy Samuels/Connor Puha) 290.225pts, 3.

Source: Shearing Sports NZ.