The focus of the shearing world will next week turn on the 2023 world championships and particularly the glamour-event hopes of two shearers from Hawke’s Bay competing for different countries.

The Golden Shears World Shearing and World Championships will be held at the Royal Highland Show at Ingliston, Edinburgh, on June 22-25, with brothers Rowland Smith, a Maraekakaho farmer and shearing and agricultural contractor, representing New Zealand at a world championships for a third time and trying to regain the title he won in Ireland in 2014, and brother Matt, now an established farmer in Cornwall, competing in the championships for the first time, and representing England.

They, along with second New Zealand team member Leon Samuels, originally from Mangakino but long based in Southland, represent the biggest threats to defending champion and Welsh shearer Richard Jones, who pipped Rowland Smith for the major top honour four years ago in Le Dorat, France.

The machine shearing titles now have an established Hawke’s Bay connection, back to John Kirkpatrick’s second placing to Taranaki farmer Paul Avery in the 2008 final in Norway in their win in the team’s event.

Two years later in Wales, the final was won by Cam Ferguson in another New Zealand 1-2 with shearing great David Fagan, the pair also successfully defending the teams.

Rowland Smith won in the Golden Shears Open final in March, his eighth win crucial to his selection to represent New Zealand at the world championships in Scotland next week. Photo /Pete Nikolaison

Two years later in Masterton Ferguson and Kirkpatrick won the teams title, and were second and third to New Zealand-based Scotland international Gavin Mutch, who now farms in Southern Hawke’s Bay, and in 2014 in Ireland Smith and Kirkpatrick were first and fifth in the individual event and third in the teams event.

At his fourth attempt, in Invercargill in 2017, Kirkpatrick won the individual title and also won the teams event with Southland shearer Nathan Stratford.

But now there’s more than just the sibling for Rowland Smith, who will have somewhere in mind the 2019 result in France, where he and Ferguson were second and third in the individual final and third in the teams event, the first time New Zealand had not won at least one of the two machine shearing titles in the 18 world championships since 1977, apart from the merino shearing events in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 2000 and in Toowoomba, Australia, five years later.

It was only the second time in 10 world championships in the northern hemisphere that the individual title had not been won by a New Zealand shearer.

But the miss was offset by two blades shearing titles, to individual winner Allan Oldfield and the team’s title with fellow South Canterbury shearer Tony Dobbs, who will defend the title in Scotland, and the woolhandling teams title, being defended next week by international newcomers Candy Hiri, of Mataura, and Ngaio Hanson, of Eketahuna.

Matt Smith on the farm at Trefranck, Cornwall, England.

The Smith brothers, who grew up around Ruawai in Northland, did most of their New Zealand shearing in Hawke’s Bay, where they also embarked on their world record shearing paths, along with third brother Doug, have quickly shown they mean business in the UK in the build-up to the championships.

With Rowland winning, they were first and second in the Open final at the Royal Cornwall Show at the weekend, reversing the placings from Matt Smith’s successful defence of the Royal Bath and West Show Open title.

The latest 20-sheep final, with five record-breaking shearers, including two other English shearers who have shorn in Hawke’s Bay, it lived up to its potential with the first four to finish separated by just five seconds.

World eight-hour ewes record-holder Rowland Smith and summertime New Zealand workmate and nine-hour lambs record holder and English shearer Stuart Connor finished blow-for-blow in 15min 33sec.

Samuels, in his first competition in the UK since arriving the previous Sunday, was next three seconds later, just pipping Matt Smith, who clocked 15min 38sec.

With time and quality points together, Rowland Smith won by just 0.1pts from his brother, who had marginally the better quality points – in a reverse of the result from six days earlier when Matt Smith retained the Royal Bath and West Open title in Somerset, barely 48 hours after Rowland Smith had arrived from New Zealand.

Rowland Smith has now won 173 Open finals, and with his brother will compete at the Ballymena show in Northern Ireland on Saturday and the Three Counties Show in England the next day before heading to Scotland for the big event, which includes Scottish All-Nations championship events including members of almost 30 teams in the World championships plus others entering as individuals.

Also in the UK is the mainly New Zealand-based Cook Islands including Australia-based Jovan Taiki, whose family hails from Porangahau.