Results from the finals at 17th World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships at ILT Stadium Southland, Invercargill NZ, on February 8-11, 2017:

It was a New Zealand and South Africa night tonight as the two traditional rugby nations turned their rivalry to the woolshed on the final night of the World shearing and woolhandling championships in Invercargill’s ILT Stadium Southland.

New Zealand made it a bag of four as the black singlets won the individual and teams titles in machine shearing and woolhandling, while South Africa won the two blade shearing titles, for New Zealand a repeat of the quadruple success scored in Norway in 2008.

But it was a contrast from the last championships in Ireland where the machine shearing and woolhandling honours were split among four countries, New Zealand’s only win being the machine shearing title. Perhaps the biggest individual winner tonight was Napier shearer John Kirkpatrick, who at his fourth attempt won the glamour event, the individual machine shearing final, to deafening applause from a crowd of over 4000, one of the biggest ever to watch a shearing event. According to Invercargill locals, it was also the biggest crowd for any event held in the stadium, better known for netball and basketball matches, and short boxing fights.

Individual:

Machine Shearing final (20 sheep – six fullwool, eight second-shear, six lambs):

  1. John Kirkpatrick (New Zealand) 17min 22.079sec, 61.554pts
  2. Gavin Mutch (Scotland) 16min 56.139sec, 62.907pts
  3. Nathan Stratford (New Zealand) 18min 3.357sec, 63.818pts
  4. Ivan Scott (Ireland) 18min 20.599sec, 66.53pts
  5. Hamish Mitchell (Scotland) 16min 50.75sec, 67.688pts
  6. Jack Robinson (Northern Ireland) 19min 22.71sec, 70.986pts

Blade shearing final (6 sheep – 3 second-shear, 3 longwool):

  1. Mayenseke Shweni (South Africa) 18min 7.101sec, 74.189pts
  2. Tony Dobbs (New Zealand) 19min 53.177sec, 75.992pts
  3. Phil Oldfield (New Zealand) 19min 59.129sec, 81.123pts
  4. Bongani Joel (South Africa) 21min 40.674sec, 84.034pts
  5. Ken French (Australia) 21min 41.956sec, 92.098pts
  6. Johnathon Dalla (Australia) 22min 10.601se, 93.697pts

Woolhandling final (8 fleeces – 4 second-shear, 4 longwool):

  1. Joel Henare (New Zealand) 107.82pts
  2. Mary-Anne Baty (New Zealand) 152.47pts
  3. Tina Elers (Cook Islands) 205.28pts
  4. Sophie Huf (Australia) 224.69pts

Teams:
Machine Shearing final (20 sheep – six fullwool, eight second-shear, six lambs):

  1. New Zealand (John Kirkpatrick/Nathan Stratford) 18min 56.464sec, 66.373pts
  2. Scotland (Hamish Mitchell/Gavin Mutch) 18min 25.655sec, 67.083pts
  3. Australia (Shannon Warnest/Jason Wingfield) 19min 49.475sec, 72.674pts
  4. Northern Ireland (Ian Montgomery/Jack Robinson) 21min 43.667sec, 74.183pts
  5. Wales (Gwion Evans/Ian Jones) 20min 44.186sec, 75.409pts
  6. Ireland (Stanley Allingham/Ivan Scott) 21min 56.458sec, 77.273pts

Blade shearing final (6 sheep – 3 second-shear, 3 longwool):

  1. South Africa (Bongani Joel/Mayenseke Shweni) 18min 29.292sec, 78.299pts
  2. New Zealand (Tony Dobbs/Phil Oldfield) 19min 42.985sec, 84.816pts
  3. Australia (Johnathon Dalla/Ken French) 21min 20.142sec, 100.507pts
  4. Ireland (Peter Heraty/Noel Joyce) 27min 19.759sec, 114.821pts
  5. England (Andrew Mudge/George Mudge) 26min 34.698sec, 115.902pts
  6. Wales (Elfed Jackson/Gareth Owen) 25min 1.558sec, 122.078pts

Woolhandling final (8 fleeces – 4 second-shear, 4 longwool):

  1. New Zealand (Mary-Anne Baty/Joel Henare) 99.762pts
  2. Australia (Sophie Huf/Mel Morris) 141.464pts
  3. Cook Islands (Maiden Elers/Tina Elers) 169.75pts
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