London Rowing Club head coach Phil Bourguignan praised his crews despite a lack of pennants from the Fuller’s Head of the River Fours.

The club’s number one crew of Stuart Heap, Richard Dunley, Mark Aldred and Marco Espin were closest to a pennant coming second in the elite lightweight fours behind the all-conquering Leander Club.

The quartet’s time over the four-and-a-quarter-mile course on the River Thames placed them sixth overall – Leander had four teams in the top five.

Bourguignan said: “This year we were without our four Olympians or World Champions, so it was a raw club performance.

“When the Olympians were with us last year we had a third-place finish overall, so to come in sixth without them this time round is keeping the status quo and is a great achievement.

“It shows the training and development at the club is going in the right direction.”

In overall 14th place was the club’s second team of Dom Wilson, twins David Loveday, James Loveday and Jon Bale.

The elite lightweight fours team finished their group race in sixth.