SIGNS that Irish rowers could consolidate their recent fine run at Henley ultimately came to nothing yesterday when Neptune's defence of the Thames Trophy - one of three events in which domestic crews reached the latter stages - ended in disappointment after leading their club eights final up until almost the last stroke.

For much of the race the Neptune eight, which recently received Pounds 4,000 sponsorship from the bookmakers Sean Graham, had looked the odds-on favourite against a Nottingham club boat powered by a combination of Australian and US trialists. The two crews remained level for the first quarter-mile, but at the Barrier Neptune, on the Berkshire station, had developed an overlap which they stretched to half-a-length by the Fawley half-way mark.

But having just raced their fast est split times of the regatta by a clear 10 seconds, the Dublin eight had nothing more in reserve when the Nottingham fight back eventually came - inch by inch. From Neptune's seven seat, Tommy Colshe in his third Henley final could only watch on as Nottingham squeezed ahead with their last stroke for the two-foot verdict.

Irish hopes in two other Henley competitions had earlier foundered at the semi-final stage. In the Queen Mother's challenge, the Irish lightweight quad reached the last four after a three-length win over Rob Roy. The waiting American opposition from the Augusta Sculling Center, aka the US national squad, presented a weighter problem though.

Apart from quality - Beasley was last year's US Olympic single sculler and Jameson came from the silver medallist quad in Atlanta - the Augusta heavyweights had, more significantly, an average 2 1/2 st advantage which soon proved its worth off the start.

The Irish crew of Emmet O'Brien, Neal Byrne, Brendan Dolan and John Armstrong stayed in touch throughout and kept the lead down to under a length, but in reality they were giving away too much strength to make an impression when they raised the pace at the end.

Size was also the deciding factor in Trinity's semi-final clash against a bulky coxed four from Hansa Hamburg. Mark Pollack James Lindsay Finn, Michael O'Connell and William Gilbert ended their campaign in a race characterised by push and counter push. Hansa took an early length lead, Trinity halved it on two occasions, but at the line the Germans had taken back a three-quarters of a length advantage. Roger Pimni was also knocked out at the semi-final stage in the Double Scull