New-look squad tests the waters

With Eric Murray on the couch, Hamish Bond on a bike and Mahe Drysdale on sabbatical, new-look boats will be in the spotlight when New Zealand’s elite rowers begin their international season on Friday.

The second World Cup regatta of the season in Poznan, Poland, will see a number of new boat combinations stake their first claim towards the 2017 world champs in the US in late September, with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics the long-term goal.

In the men’s pair, Tom Murray and James Hunter replace the irreplaceable duo of Bond and the retired Murray. Hunter has shifted from the lightweight four that was fifth at last year’s Rio Olympics while Murray - no relation - was in the eight that was sixth. They’ll be up against recent European champs silver medallists, French brothers Valentin and Theophile Onfroy, along with the experienced Serbian pair of Milos Vasic and Nenad Bedik.

Robbie Manson, another Kiwi who suffered disappointment at Rio, takes Drysdale’s place in the men’s single sculls.

The 27-year-old, who failed to make the A final of the double sculls at the Olympics with crewmate Chris Harris, has set his stall out early for the single scull berth for Tokyo, despite Drysdale’s plans to be back in the boat and aiming for a third successive Olympic gold.

He’ll be tested immediately by the presence of Croatia’s Damir Martin, who pushed Drysdale to the limit in a pulsating final in Rio, but bronze medallist and long-time Drysdale rival Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic isn’t in the field.

In the women’s pair, Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast are looking to claim back the seats they lost prior to Rio. After winning silver at the 2015 world champs, the duo were usurped in the boat for the Olympics by Rebecca Scown and Genevieve Behrent, who went on to win silver in Rio.

Behrent has taken a break this year and Gowler and Prendergast have returned from the eight, which will again feature Scown ths year.