East Otago shearer Chris Vickers was part of an underdog New Zealand team which won a transtasman test in Gore, avenging a recent defeat.
Vickers, Angus Moore, of Seddon and David Buick, of Pongaroa, beat the firm favourites at the 60th anniversary of Southern Shears last month.
Leading up to the test, Australia had won 15 of the past 20 home-and-away matches since 2014 including against the same New Zealand team, about four months ago.
Moore clocked the fastest time, shearing six second-shear merino ewes, three full-wool crossbred ewes and three second-shear crossbred ewes in 15min 3.44sec.
Vickers said the merino flock were the most challenging to shear.
"It was tricky to find a comb for those second-shear merinos ... even the Australia boys were struggling to find a comb to use."
He thanked Allan Paterson, of Armidale, in Gimmerburn, for providing the merino sheep and Peters Genetics for supplying the crossbred flock.
The big crowd at Southern Shears included his mother Margaret, in a wheelchair, which made the win more special.
He celebrated the win with his family "with a couple of quiet ones back at the hotel".
The 57-year-old returned to work a couple of days later, saying it was "business as usual".
The test match was usually held at Golden Shears in Masterton but it was moved to Southern Shears to avoid a clash with the world championships at Golden Shears this year.
Vickers will not compete at Golden Shears due to the cost of attending the event.
The win completed a clean sweep of three home transtasman tests for Shearing Sports New Zealand teams, following a blade shearing win in Waimate in October last year and a woolhandling win at Otago Shears near Balclutha last month.
Results of the transtasman shearing test at Southern Shears in Gore on February 21:
New Zealand (Angus Moore 15m 3.44s, 60.0053pts; David Buick 17m 27.37s, 67.0352pts; Chris Vickers 17m 40.34s, 75.9337pts) 202.9742pts beat Australia (Daniel McIntyre 16m 27.37s, 67.4515pts; Sam Byers 16m 58.88s, 68.6107pts; Sam Bacon 17m 18.09s, 72.7378pts) 208.8pts.
