QUIETLY-SPOKEN Kiwi shearer Roland Smith says he just like crossies.
And last Saturday he liked the crossbred ewes at Warrnambool in south-west Victoria so much he toppled a world champion.
In less than 11 minutes the North Auckland shearer outclassed fellow Kiwi and world champion shearer Cam Ferguson with a quality performance in the Romney Shears open final at the Warrnambool Show.
The 24-year-old took the final with 37.44 points, finishing his 11 crossbred sheep in 10 minutes and 27 second, and outscoring the other finalists on quality points.
Smith was followed in the placings by fellow New Zealanders John Kirkpatrick on 38.16 points and Ferguson on 38.79 points.
Cam Ferguson, on his first visit to Warrnambool, was the first to finish his 11 ewes, in 10 minutes and 14 seconds, but slightly higher board and pen points were his undoing.
Kirkpatrick finished in 10 minutes and 25 seconds, scoring better than Smith on the board but couldn’t match him in the pen assessment out the back.
The minor placings in the all-Kiwi open final were filled by James Mack (42.90 points) in fourth; Nathan Stratford (43.46) in fifth and Hamish Bramley (49.74) in sixth.
After his win Smith said he was just “cruisin’ along” with his shearing, but put his win down to a solid year shearing Romneys in the Hawkes Bay area.
“I just like crossies (crossbred sheep),” he said.
Smith had earlier won the quality quick shear event at the show in 43.6 seconds with just three quality points, Romney Shears organiser Jim Robinson said.
The Kiwi shearer and his older brother Doug, 25, are in training for an attempt at the world two-stand shearing record in mid-January next year.
Their mentor and Shearing Sports New Zealand committee member Neil Sidwell said the pair nearly didn’t come to Warrnambool for fear of upsetting their diet and exercise regimen for the record attempt.
Roland said he and his brother were on a triathlon training program of cycling, swimming and running three days a week.
It helped him feel sharp and less nervous in competitions, he said.
Mr Sidwell said the shearers had shorn up to130 sheep a run in training.
He said the brothers might attempt a three-stand record with their brother Matthew who already holds the American eight-hour lamb shearing record of 560 and the world eight-hour longwool ewe record of 578.
New Zealand shearers Stacey and Hayden Te Huia hold the world two-stand record with 986 strongwool ewes shorn in eight hours.
Cam Ferguson became the 2010 world champion shearer in Wales in July and said he was surprised how well the sheep combed at Warrnambool.
“I was expecting them to be a bit tougher.”
He won the Mortlake Quick Shear event on the Friday night before the Warrnambool event with a 27.59-second performance with a crossbred lamb.
In the Te Kuiti Shearing Test at Warrnambool, the Australian shearers -- Roger Mifsud, Tyson Scholz and Robbie Glover – outscored the Kiwi team of Roland Smith, Cam Ferguson and Nathan Stratford by a clear 13 points over the four Merino and four crossbred sheep shorn.
But the NZ rouseabouts – Joanne Kumeroa, Joel Henare and Judith Ratana – outdid Australia’s Mark Purcell, Michelle Walker and Mel Morris in the test’s wool handling section. Purcell was voted best woolhandler in the test.
Joel Henare was a clear winner in the open woolhandling at Warrnambool from Joanne Kumeroa, with Mark Purcell third and Fi Patison fourth.
