A double for Taumarunui couple

Taumarunui partners Forde Alexander and Vinniye Phillips, who have a young son and daughter, won the Golden Shears senior finals.

Alexander was second-off in the shearing final of 12 sheep each, six seconds behind leading Southland hope Nathan Bee's 12m 30.431s, but had the best quality both on the board and in the pens to win by more than two points from eventual runner-up Gabriel Winders, of Invercargill.

Bee had to settle for third place, but with just 0.003 points separating the pair in the race for the minor money.

The couple had been consistent placegetters as they travelled the shows together, each managing two wins earlier in the season, Alexander at the Hawke's Bay show's Great Raihania Shears in October and a fortnight later at the Manawatu show, but Phillips didn't win until claiming the Taumarunui and Apiti shears' titles the previous Friday and Saturday.

They will both be trying to make it a double-double at the New Zealand Shears in Te Kuiti next month, their last show before graduating to Open-class next year, Phillips joining sister and 2020 Golden Shears Junior woolhandling champion Te Anna Phillips.