Just for a fresh challenge, Bond and Murray also entered the coxed pair in Amsterdam with Caleb Shepherd. It was about keeping themselves fresh, but also trying something different.
The final with Shepherd was won well. They were hauling more weight than they were used to, and if they felt slightly vulnerable it didn't show.
Indeed, the trio clocked a world-best time of 6min 33.26s in the final of the non-Olympic event, eclipsing the 20-year-old record by nine seconds.
"We wanted to challenge ourselves beyond the usual three races in a week, which we'd normally do in a World Cup weekend. It was something different to focus on midway through the Olympic cycle to break it up a bit," Murray said of the double.
No one bets against the Kiwis in their specialist event and that proved wise, once again.
The British crew of James Foad and Matt Langridge pushed the New Zealanders hard in the opening 500m to try to unsettle them. Bond and Murray were 1.21s off the lead, sitting last at 500m.
Then they simply eased their way through the field and clear so that by the finish they were 4.41s ahead of the second-placed Brits.
The last time the coxed and coxless pair double was achieved was 13 years ago by celebrated Britons Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell.
And so once more the question is raised: are they rowing's finest pair? In Pinsent's eyes, yes.
Contenders? Steven Redgrave and Pinsent, who won consecutive Olympic golds in 1992 and 1996; or East German twins Joerg and Bernd Landvoigt, who triumphed in Montreal and Moscow, in 1976-80.
Halfway through the Olympic cycle, you'd have to say the New Zealanders are bang on target two years out from Rio de Janerio.
Rowing
Who: Hamish Bond and Eric Murray (and cox Caleb Shepherd)
What: Won world championship titles in both the coxed and coxless pairs (fifth straight time)
When: August 30 and 31
Where: Amsterdam.
