Reading Time: 2 minutes Two Welsh shearers who’ve shorn numerous summers in New Zealand have struck the first blow to the hopes of New Zealand shearers Toa Henderson and Jack Fagan of winning a new test series in Wales. Shearing Welsh lambs at the Cothi Shears in Carmarthenshire on Saturday, Gethin Lewis and Llyr Jones beat the Wools of New Zealand team by a comfortable margin of 6.1pts. But while the Welsh dominated the quality points, it wasn’t as comfortable in the race for best time points, with Henderson shearing 11min 48sec, one of the faster times by a New Zealand shearer in a 20-sheep final, and putting a sheep around Welsh shearer of the moment and second man off Lewis, with 34 seconds separating the pair on the clock. A short while earlier, Fagan, a former Royal Welsh Open winner, blasted through 20 lambs in 13min 1sec to be first home in the five-man Cothi Shears Open final, beating second man off and current world champion Gwion Lloyd Evans by 25 seconds, but had to settle for fourth place as Lewis claimed his third individual success in 11 days. Lewis, who shears for Hawke’s Bay contractor Brendan Mahony, had beaten Henderson and Fagan to win the Great Yorkshire Open final in England on July 9, and last weekend shore 696 sheep in eight hours to set a new British ewe-shearing record, in what was also part of a successful bid for the two-stand record. Lewis had best overall points in the test, while Jones was just pipped for the honour and had the best quality points, while in the Open final Lewis had the best quality points. While Henderson’s time in the test was more than a minute quicker then Fagan’s Open final and both the test and Open final at Cothi last year, Fagan shore 11min 41sec in winning the Corwen Shears Open title last year, But Welsh commentator Huw Condron believes the fastest time ever for a 20-sheep final was the 10min 30sec by New Zealander Paul Avery in winning the Royal Welsh Open in 2007, beating a previous record of 10min 36sec attributed to Fagan’s father, New Zealand shearing legend Sir David Fagan. Condron had a clear memory of Avery’s achievement, saying: “I was his pen-man.” The second test of the current tour will be shorn on Wednesday at the Royal Welsh Show, where Fagan had a big day last year, winning the Royal Welsh Open for a second time. International (20 lambs): Wales 94.6pts (Gethin Lewis 12m 22s, 47.15pts; Llyr Jones 13m 3s, 47.45pts), New Zealand Toa Henderson 100.7pts (Toa Henderson 11m 48s, 49.7pts; Jack Fagan 12m 59s, 51pts). Weles won by 6.1pts. Cothi Open final (20 lambs): Gethin Lewis (Wales) 14m 15s, 52.1pts, 1; Gareth Daniel (Wales) 14m 26s, 53.45pts, 2; Gwion Lloyd Evans (Wales) 13m 26s, 57.2pts, 3; Jack Fagan (New Zealand) 13m 1s, 59.7pts, 4; Ian Jones (Wales) 14m 37s, 61.65pts, 5.