Napier shearer is a cut above

Napier shearer John Kirkpatrick continued his almost invincible form in open finals on tour with the Shearing Sports New Zealand team in the United Kingdom with two wins in successive days in Wales.

His successes at the Cothi Shears last Friday and the Lampeter Shears on Saturday took him to five wins in six competitions in which he has shorn in the last month.

Kirkpatrick had also won the Royal Highland Show and Lochearnhead Shears titles in Scotland and last weekend's Rickamore Shears in Northern Ireland, his only defeat being by just 0.05 points by Te Kuiti shearing legend David Fagan in the Lakeland Shears in Cockermouth, Cumbria.

Kirkpatrick's New Zealand team-mate, Invercargill shearer Nathan Stratford, was fifth in both the weekend's finals, but the pair were beaten on Saturday in a test match by the Welsh team of Gareth Daniel and Richard Jones, reversing the result from the previous day at Cothi.

With a 1-1 drawn series against Scotland and a win over Ulster behind them, Kirkpatrick and Stratford take a 3-2 tour record and a 1-1 Wales series tie into their penultimate competition of the tour, midweek at the Royal Welsh Show at Llanellwedd, Builth Wells.

David Fagan and son Jack continued their success in the UK, with David fourth to Kirkpatrick in the Lampeter Open, and Jack triumphing in the senior final, his seventh senior win in Britain. A South Island shearer, Robert Hewitt, was fourth in the Lampeter junior final.