Teen bags Australian shearing title

SHEAR TALENT: New Zealand claimed two other victories, with Joanne Kumeroa from Wanganui winning the open woolhandling final, for which world champion Sheree Alabaster of Taihape failed to qualify.

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Masterton teenager Matene Mason has returned home triumphant after scoring a major surprise shearing victory in Australia at the weekend.

The New Zealand intermediate shearing titelholder won the Australian Romney Championships senior title on Saturday in Warrnambool, making him a national champion on both sides of the Tasman.

The 17-year-old's triumph came just eight days after his breakthrough senior win in the Great Raihania Shears at the Hawke's Bay Show.

It was his first competition in Australia.

Mason qualified 10th of 12 for the semifinals and then third of six for the final in which he was third off the board after shearing his six sheep in 8 minutes 36 seconds.

He made up for the time-points-deficit with better quality to score victory by a comfortable margin of 2.42 points over runner-up Australian Correy Scott.

New Zealand claimed two other victories, with Joanne Kumeroa, the mainly Australia-based former world woolhandling champion from Wanganui, winning the open woolhandling final, for which world champion Sheree Alabaster of Taihape failed to qualify.

The New Zealand Shears trio of David Fagan, Dean Ball and Paul Avery beat the Warrnambool Shears team of James Dolphin, Jason Wingfield and John Hand in a teams shearing match over four merino wethers and four romney ewes.

- NZPA