Rowing: New-look pair relish start of new era

Hamish Bond and Eric Murray are among the strongest of the post-Evers-Swindell era rowers. Photo / Getty Images

Reinvented and reinvigorated, New Zealand rowers Hamish Bond and Eric Murray are men on a mission.

Like a number of New Zealand crews, the new and improved coxless pair are heavily favoured to stand on the medal podium at the world championships which start in Poznan, Poland on Sunday morning (NZT).

Bond and Murray are among the strongest cogs in a team stripped of their golden girls - retired double sculling twins Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell - but still brimming with talent and confidence.

Single sculler Mahe Drysdale is out the heartbreak of last year's Olympics behind him and add a fourth world championships gold to his sock drawer.

Excitement also surrounds women's single sculler Emma Twigg, the new women's pair of Rebecca Scown and Emma-Jane Feathery and the reunited Matthew Trott and Nathan Cohen, back in the men's double sculls.

Duncan Grant will look to defend his world lightweight singles title while Storm Uru and Peter Taylor are expected to feature prominently in the race for gold in the men's lightweight double.

There is little doubt the 11 New Zealand crews can continue their highly successful run at world championships which began when the country lifted a remarkable four gold medals in 45 minutes at Gifu in Japan in 2005.

Bond and Murray are like two old kids in a new school.

Formerly of the men's four who won the world title in 2007 but finished a disappointing seventh at last year's Beijing Olympics, they know the Rowing New Zealand system well.

Succeeding the long-time men's pair George Bridgewater and Nathan Twaddle was potentially daunting but their move has been well and truly vindicated by emphatic World Cup wins in Munich and Lucerne.

"We knew it could go well but how well, we weren't quite sure," Bond said.

"Anything less than a medal would be disappointing was how we were looking at it, so to come over and we've been unbeaten so far and all our wins have been quite convincing.

"It has built on itself and given us more confidence."

This New Zealand team may be missing some their big names of recent years but there is a new breed emerging.

Scown and Feathery inherited the boat from Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh and immediately made an impact. They emulated their male counterparts by winning successive World Cup events in Europe.

"It is a different environment," Bond said of New Zealand's post-Olympic brigade.

"It's a new era with the twins retiring and George and Nathan not being here and the women's pair, who had been together since 2005.

"But it's great. The success we've had this year means everyone's quite positive and everyone's in a good mood which makes for a good training environment."

Bond has struggled with a shoulder problem in recent weeks but he doesn't expect it to hamper him when the championships begin with heats on Sunday night (NZT), a session which features eight New Zealand crews.

"I've had some issues throughout the season and they've cropped up in the last two weeks which has been annoying.

"I have sort of dealt with them over the last two weeks and they're slowly getting better.

"I've been training at full capacity and I don't think it's impacted on our preparation at all."

Bond expects their main competition to come from the fancied British crew of Andy Hodge and Peter Reed, even though they have eclipsed them comfortably this year.

He disputes suggestions the competition could be weaker in a post-Olympic year.

"When you look at who's missing from each of the events, I mean the premier athletes, in the races New Zealand is competing in, a lot of the top contenders are still there."

- NZPA