New Zealanders fought alongside their allies during the Battle of Britain in World War 2, but at Lake Karapiro tomorrow the Kiwi lightweight double scullers will battle Great Britain.
The New Zealand crew of Peter Taylor and Storm Uru had its 18-month unbeaten stretch ended yesterday when it lost to Beijing Olympic champions Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter in the semifinal.
The Great Britain crew went out fast and won in 6min 55.50sec from New Zealand (6min 57.48sec).
Portugal was third in 6min 59.29sec.
Great Britain led by half a length after 500m and had increased the margin to 1.75 lengths at 1250m and to two lengths at 1500m.
The Britons took a year off last year and had an up-and-down World Cup in Europe this year, Hunter said.
They wanted to make a statement to unsettle the New Zealanders and dent their confidence, he said.
"What happened at the World Cup at Lucerne this year hurt us and we had to get back in front.
"We went out with a race plan, executed it well, and you saw the result.
"What we did today puts us in a great position before the final, but we can't get complacent," he said.
Hunter and Purchase will go into the final confident they have the measure of the New Zealand crew.
"The competition will be a bit more fierce but we are looking forward to it," Hunter said.
The British win has changed the equation.
They are now the hunted instead of the hunter.
"We are used to it," Hunter said.
"In the Olympic year of 2008 we went through the whole season unbeaten. That is the way we like it. It keeps us on our toes," he said.
Uru was not worried.
"Some good crews get knocked out and don't make it to the final," he said.
"Our plan today was just to make the final.
"They came out hard and fast today. But it will be a different day on Friday. We know exactly how they will race and we will be prepared for it."
The New Zealanders were aware that lightweight rowers need a good recovery, and Uru said they could not go out hard in every race.
The New Zealanders would probably make adjustments to their race plan as a result of the semifinal.
"It is a long time since we have raced a crew that quick, and we will have to race faster from the start to win," Uru said.
The men's lightweight double sculls promises to be the most important finals race tomorrow.
Several of New Zealand's big guns will be in action in the semifinals today, with four-time world champion Mahe Drysdale facing Ondrej Synek (Czech Republic) in the men's single sculls and Hamish Bond and Eric Murray matched against Great Britain's Peter Reed and Andrew Triggs-Hodge in the pair.
Emma Twigg will be matched against the two superweights - Ekaterina Karsten (Belarus) and Mirka Knapkova (Czech Republic) - in the women's single sculls.
The New Zealand men's and women's eights have a chance of making the final if they finish in the top two in the repechage heats.
