Latest news with #CothiShears
Scoop
2 days ago
- Sport
- Scoop
NZ Shearers' Saving Grace In Last-Test Win Over Wales
The Wools of New Zealand shearing team of Jack Fagan and Toa Henderson have ended their six-match tour of UK and France in style by beating Wales at the Corwen Shears in North Wales. Dominating both time and quality points, they beat the new Welsh team of Llyr Jones and Gwion Lloyd Evans by a comfortable 4.05pts on Saturday, although Wales claimed a 2-1 series victory having won the first two tests of the home leg of the annual series' between the rival nations at the Cothi Shears and the Royal Welsh Show last week. Fagan had the fastest time, the best points in the pens and overall quality points, shearing the 20 lambs in 11m 23s. Henderson was next off, six seconds later and with the best points in judging on the shearing board. It enabled the black singlets pair to balance the ledger for the tour having beaten England and France earlier this month after being beaten by Scotland in the opening test at the Lochearnhead Shears. Henderson, on his first trip to the Northern Hemisphere, went close to claiming a third international Open championship title, by finishing runner-up to reigning World champion Evans in the six-man Corwen Shears Open All-Nations final, also of 20 lambs each, having beaten Evans to win the equivalent event at the Royal Welsh Show. Fagan was fifth. Henderson was first to finish the final and also had the best board points, but it was a tight finish. Evans beat him by 0.2pts, with just 0.35pts back to third place-getter, 2019 World champion and local Corwen idol Richard Jones. Just six seconds separated the first three in the race, from Henderson's 11m 51s to Alun Lloyd Jones' 11m 55s and the 11m 57s of Gethin Lewis, who shore with Llyr Jones in the Welsh team for the last two seasons and the first test of this month's series. Henderson, who won the Golden Shears and New Zealand Championships Open finals in March, had a particularly big first tour in the UK, winning Open finals in France and at the Royal Welsh Show, and finishing second on Saturday, third at the Great Yorkshire Show and fourth at Lochearnhead. Fagan was unable to repeat any of the four wins he had in Open finals on last year's tour, but also reached five of the six finals, for second place at Yorkshire and in France, third at the Royal Welsh Show, fourth at Cothi, and the fifth placing at Corwen. Fagan has also won four speedshear titles, including retaining the Welsh International title last week. On Friday, he was also fourth in the Corwen Shears Novice Blades, repeating the outcome of his first blades event midweek at the Royal Welsh Show. A special moment on Saturday came when the two took part in the haka just before the test, Henderson taking the role of kaea in what was thought to be the first time team members have taken part in what has become an obligation for New Zealanders at competitions in Wales, sometimes joined by Welsh shearers who have learnt haka during their working seasons in New Zealand. Results: International (20 lambs): New Zealand 94.2pts (Jack Fagan 11m 23s, 44.4pts; Toa Henderson 11m 29s, 49.8pts) beat Wales 98.25pts (Gwion Evans 11m 50s, 46.95pts; Llyr Jones 12m 2s, 51.3pts). Wales won the series 2-1. Corwen Shears Open All-Nations final (20 lambs): Gwion Evans (Wales) 12m 19s, 47pts, 1; Toa Henderson (NZ) 11m 51s, 47.2pts, 2; Richard Jones (Wales) 13m 21s, 47.55pts, 3; Alun Lloyd Jones (Wales) 11m 55s, 48.5pts, 4; Jack Fagan (NZ) 12m 13s, 49.15pts, 5; Gethin Lewis (Wales) 11m 57s, 54.35pts, 6.
Scoop
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Scoop
The Fastest Guns In But NZ Shearers Still Beaten In Wales
Two Welsh shearers who've shorn numerous summers in New Zealand have struck the first blow to the hopes of New Zealand shearers Toa Henderson and Jack Fagan winning a new test series in Wales. Shearing Welsh lambs at the Cothi Shears, in Carmarthenshire, on Saturday, Gethin Lewis and Llyr Jones beat the Wools of New Zealand team Toa Henderson and Jack Fagan by a comfortable margin of 6.1pts. But while the Welsh dominated the quality points, it wasn't as comfortable in the race for best time points, with Northland gun Henderson shearing 11min 48sec, one of the faster times by a New Zealand shearer in a 20-sheep final, and putting a sheep around Welsh shearer-of-the-moment and second-man-off Lewis, with 34 seconds separating the pair on the clock. A short while earlier, King Country shearer Fagan, a former Royal Welsh Open winner, blasted through 20 lambs in 13min 1sec to be first home in the five-man Cothi Shears Open final, beating second-man-off and current World champion Gwion Lloyd Evans by 25 seconds, but had to settle for fourth place as Lewis claimed his third individual success in 11 days. Lewis, who shears for Hawke's Bay contractor Brendan Mahony, beat Henderson and Fagan to win the Great Yorkshire Open final in England on July 9, and last weekend shore 696 sheep in eight hours to set a new British ewe-shearing record, in what was also part of a successful bid for the two-stand record. Lewis had best overall points in the test, while Jones was just pipped for the honour and had the best quality points, while in the Open final Lewis had the best quality points. While Henderson's time in the test was more than a minute quicker then Fagan's Open final and both the test and Open final at Cothi last year, Fagan shore 11min 41sec in winning the Corwen Shears Open title last year, But Welsh commentator Huw Condron believes the fastest time ever for a 20-sheep final was the 10min 30sec by New Zealander Paul Avery in winning the Royal Welsh Open in 2007, beating a previous record of 10min 36sec attributed to Fagan's father, New Zealand shearing legend Sir David Fagan. Condron had a clear memory of Avery's achievement, saying: 'I was his pen-man.' Another New Zealand shearer to break 11 minutes in such a final in the UK was Hawke's Bay gun John Kirkpatrick, with 10m 59s at Corwen in 2009. The second test of the current tour will be shorn on Wednesday at the Royal Welsh Show, where Fagan had a big day last year, winning the Royal Welsh Open for a second time and, with Wairarapa shearer David Buick, a test match, and tie-up a series Wales ultimately won 2-1 with victory at the Corwen Shears a few days later. Fagan, who was second-fastest in the Open heats, which saw Henderson's early elimination after winning the French Open at his last start, said: 'It was good to make the final today. We have a clear set of goals for Wednesday, so we are preparing for that.' In March, he and Buick beat Lewis and Jones 3-0 in a series in New Zealand, and now he and Henderson, while out to keep the Wales series in the Northern Hemisphere alive in the last two tests, will also be out to at least keep the balance on the tour, with a 2-2 record to date, having had wins over England and France and losses to Scotland and Wales. Results: International (20 lambs): Wales 94.6pts (Gethin Lewis 12m 22s, 47.15pts; Llyr Jones 13m 3s, 47.45pts), New Zealand Toa Henderson 100.7pts (Toa Henderson 11m 48s, 49.7pts; Jack Fagan 12m 59s, 51pts). Weles won by 6.1pts. Cothi Open final (20 lambs): Gethin Lewis (Wales) 14m 15s, 52.1pts, 1; Gareth Daniel (Wales) 14m 26s, 53.45pts, 2; Gwion Lloyd Evans (Wales) 13m 26s, 57.2pts, 3; Jack Fagan (New Zealand) 13m 1s, 59.7pts, 4; Ian Jones (Wales) 14m 37s, 61.65pts, 5.
Scoop
14-07-2025
- Sport
- Scoop
NZ Shearers Look Forward To Welsh Challenge
"Everything's still new to me over here" - French Open winner Toa Henderson looks forward to Welsh challenge New Zealand shearing champion Toa Henderson's first Open final win in the Northern Hemisphere was a big confidence booster, but he says he's still learning as he goes. He claimed the win in the French Open international final on Sunday during the French shearing and woolhandling championships at Boussac, the third stop on the Wool's of New Zealand team's 2025 tour and on which he and teammate Jack Fagan also scored a big win over France representatives Jeremy Leygonie and Pierre Grancher. But despite a team record of two test-match wins in his first tests in the New Zealand singlet and places in the Open finals at all three stops, Henderson holds no expectations as he and Fagan face a three-test series against Wales, starting against Welsh guns Gethin Lewis and Llyr Jones at the Cothi Shears on Saturday. 'I can't wait to take on the Welsh, it will be good experience, but everything is still new for me over here,' said Henderson, whose wins at the Golden Shears and New Zealand Championships earlier this year took him past 40 wins in Open finals, of which 35 have come in the three years since the disruptions of the Covid era. While dominating home tests in the annual home-and-away series' against Wales, New Zealand series wins in Wales are rare, and it won't get any easier with the in-form Welsh, particularly Lewis, who beat Fagan and Henderson in a Great Yorkshire Show Open win in England last Wednesday, and on Saturday shore 696 sheep in setting a two-stand British eight-hour ewes record with fellow Welsh shearer Llyr Evans. Lewis, who has shorn about 10 downunder summers in New Zealand, was also in the Welsh teams that won at Cothi in 2023 and 2024. The Open at Boussac on Sunday attracted 36 shearers, with Henderson being the top qualifier from the semi-final to the six-man, of 20 blackface lambs each. He later described the 13m 50s first-to-finish shear as a 'good warm-up'. Fagan, the defending champion, was next-off 26 seconds later and beaten by 1.6pts, with French shearer Jeremy Leygonie third a further 3.7pts away. In the test, also over 20 sheep each, Henderson finished more than a minute ahead of Fagan, and both Frenchmen, while Fagan had the best quality points, in a black-singlets win by 11pts overall. Fagan won the Boussac Speed Shear earlier in the weekend, with Henderson claiming second place. Henderson's third placing at the Great Yorkshire Show and win at Boussac followed a fourth placing in the Scottish black face shearing championships final when the tour opened at the Lochearnhead Shears in Scotland on June 28. The second test against Wales will be at the Royal Welsh Show next Wednesday, and the tour ends at the Corwen Shears on July 26. Results: International (20 sheep): New Zealand 127.6pts (Jack Fagan 15m 11s, 62.85pts; Toa Henderson 14m 9s, 64.75pts), France 138.6pts (Pierre Grancher 15m 10s, 68.35pts; Jeremy Leygonie 17m 16s, 70.25pts). New Zealand won by 11pts. French International Open (20 sheep): Toa Henderson (New Zealand) 13m 50s, 56.55pts, 1; Jack Fagan (New Zealand) 14m 16s, 58.1pts, 2; Jeremy Leygonie (France) 15m 53s, 61.8pts, 3; Pierre Grancher (France) 16m 19s, 66.5pts, 4; Ilan Jones (Wales) 17m 15s, 67.55pts, 5; Felix Cesbron (France) 19m 47s, 80.3pts, 6.
