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Kaiwaka shearer Toa Henderson, and New Zealand team mate Jack Fagan, have arrived in the UK ready for the first of six test matches in a four-nations tour starting at the Lochearnhead Shears in Scotland.
Henderson, representing New Zealand for the first time, claimed his place as winner of the NZ Open Shearing Championship.
The Kiwis will face not only the challenge of a tough Scottish team on its home stage, but also the unfamiliarity with the Lochearnhead Shears’ Scottish blackface sheep, known as the “blackies”.
Henderson and Fagan will also shear against England at the Great Yorkshire Show at Harrogate on July 9, France at the French Shears in Boussac on July 13, and then a three-match series against Wales, with tests at Cothi on July 19, the Royal Welsh Show on July 23 and the Corwen Shears on July 26.
The 35-year-old Henderson is determined to make sure his first international bid is a success, taking one step at a time, buoyed by the support of his Kaiwaka community, especially the rugby club, where he has played as a flanker in the past, and father Mike has been a coach.
His 2025 Golden Shears and New Zealand championships open finals double was celebrated at a function put on by the club in his honour last month.
Henderson is the front-runner for one of the two World Championships’ New Zealand machine-shearing berths with wins in the first three events in the selection series, but that is all eight to nine months away.
Having spent several years’ shearing merinos in Australia he is familiar with some of the hardest animals in the industry, but was yet to meet a “blackie.”
He says he is looking forward to the confrontation, and just getting into the swing of the competitions again.
