Pride of place in Le Dorat, central France, went to Canterbury blade shearers Allan Oldfield and Tony Dobbs who scored a double, causing a boil-over by beating previous regular champions South Africa in the teams final then finishing first and fourth respectively in the individual championship with Oldfield beating defending champion Mayenseke Shweni.
Dobbs had previously won the individual title at the 1988 World championships in Masterton but Oldfield, not born till two years later, was at his first World championships and stunned the South Africans and Dobbs by shearing his six sheep in 12 minutes 29 seconds, two minutes and 19 seconds before second-man-off Shweni.
The other triumph was in the team woolhandling final where Sheree Alabaster, of Taihape, and Pagan Karauria, of Alexandra, maintained New Zealand’s stranglehold on the title, following the victory by Joel Henare and Maryanne Baty in Invercargill two years ago.
Karauria was third in the individual final won by Aled Jones, of Wales, and Alabaster was fourth.
It was, however, only the third time in the 18 championships since the first in 1977 that NZ did not win either of the two machine shearing titles.
The teams win was Alabaster’s fourth world title, after individual and teams wins in Norway in 2008 and a teams win in Wales two years later while Karauria in her first world championship had a big week, winning the French All-Nations warm-up event and making the All-Nations senior shearing final..
Hawke’s Bay shearers Rowland Smith, the 2014 champion, and Cam Ferguson, the 2010 winner, were third in the teams event won by Scottish shearers Gavin Mutch and Calum Shaw, and were second and third in the individual event won by Richard Jones of Wales.
But it was a particularly close call in the individual event after Smith and Ferguson were the first two to finish the 20-sheep contest 10 seconds apart with Northland-raised Smith clocking 14 minutes 32 seconds. Jones was over a sheep in arrears but pulled back crucial points in pen judging and beat Smith to the title by just 0.15 points.
The teams event was a big moment for Scotland, which will host the next championships at the 20th anniversary Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh in 2022.
NZ team manager Ken Payne, of Balclutha, said those who work in the woolsheds in NZ are used to tough conditions but the conditions of the competition in France tested them further.
“Although NZ had won four titles in Invercargill two years ago there were no foregone conclusions about this trip,” he said.
“We always knew the different sheep breeds and types of wool would be a challenge, then there was the heatwave across Europe, about which we heard plenty while we were in Scotland for the Lochearnhead Shears beforehand.”
“There were long days, up at 6am and not home before 10pm, and I think everyone had difficulty sleeping because of the heat,” he said.
“It was 32C at 1am on our first night.”
All the team members were physically drained and exhausted early in the week but it would have been no different for most of the other teams.
“In many ways this was the ultimate test, which is what a World Championships is supposed to be about,” he said.
“Once the team switched onto competition mode and the adrenalin took over NZ became a formidable opponent across all events and the performances seemed to get better as things went along.”
Oldfield’s win followed a rapid rise, having until three years and two months ago never won an event. Taught by father Phil Oldfield, who was third in the 2017 championships, and by Dobbs in a shearing school in 2010, he has since 2016 won a unique grand slam of four major British show titles.
While the trip was the first time he had represented NZ at shearing he had been a national under-20 representative in axe sports.
He plans to shear in Britain till the Royal Welsh Show while Smith and Ferguson are scheduled for one test against England and four against Wales over the next three weeks.
