It was one of five wins which left them top of the medals table ahead of New Zealand, whose rowers earned four golds in their first international outing of the season.

As well as the men’s eight, which is the top British men’s boat heading towards next months World Championships in Aiguebelette, France, and then the Rio 2016 Olympics, there were wins from the Olympic and European champions in the women’s pair, Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, the women’s lightweight double scull of London 2012 champion Kat Copeland and new partner Charlotte Taylor, the men’s quadruple scull and the para-rowing LTA mixed four.

But the big drama was at the end of the regatta as Britain’s Matt Gotrel, Stewart Innes, Pete Reed, Paul Bennett, Mohamed Sbihi, Alex Gregory, George Nash, Will Satch and cox Henry Fieldman reapplied themselves to the task of beating the Olympic champions who had made such a point in winning the European title three weeks earlier.

The British boat took its time in challenging Germany, who had taken an early lead, but by the time they had cut the lead to seven tenths of a second by the 1500 metres stage their supporters were on their feet and yelling loudly.

Perhaps inspired, the British boat moved ahead stroke for stroke, holding off the late German challenge to win in 5min 26.93sec.

Germany took silver in 5:27.28, and the United States earned bronze in 5:29.38.

"We are very, very pleased with that,” said the British cox, Henry Fieldman.

“Winning is always good, especially against competition as tough as Germany and the US.”

The New Zealanders had victory in the men’s single sculls through Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale, although behind him the young guys are queueing up to have a go.

The 2014 bronze medallist. Angel Fournier Rodriguez of Cuba, came through to take silver with Stanislau Shcharbachenia of Belarus edging out world champion Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic to win bronze.

One of the other key additions to the Kiwi medal story was provided by 19-year-old Zoe McBride in the lightweight women’s single scull as she won after eclipsing the 21-year-old world record on the previous day.

Australia, which finished third on the medals table, collected three golds.

This included a golden performance by women's single sculler Kim Crow who completely dominated her competition.

Crow won by open water with Genevra Stone of the United States taking silver and Austria's Magdalena Lobnig getting the bronze.

Britain’s returning London 2012 champion Katherine Grainger got another reality check in the process of coming back to the sport in search of Rio 2016 after taking a two-year break.

She and her new partner in the double sculls, Vicky Thornley, led their final early on but eventually settled for bronze behind New Zealand and the United States.

A new World Cup Best Time was set by the French lightweight men's double sculls of Jeremie Azou and Stany Delayre.

This earned Azou and Delayre gold and also helped put their country into fourth place on the medals table.

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