The Irish lightweight coxless fours team is convinced they can resurrect their medal challenge with a strong performance at tomorrow's repechage session in Penrith. The four had endured a miserable qualifying heat in blazingly hot conditions on Monday morning, coming in a distant last.

"Maybe that was the kick up the back side we needed," said coach Ray Simms. "We expected to win the first heat, unquestionably so the result was a bit of a disappointment. But we had the same problem in Munich at the World Cup regatta when we were very slow at the start and we sorted that out for Henley and again in the qualifiers so we know what we have to do."

Ireland will tough it out in the repechage with the four other slowest teams from the heats. Three progress to the semi-finals. China, Russia and Japan make up three of the teams, but the big surprise is that Denmark, who took the World Cup in Canada in 1999, are also involved after experiencing turmoil similar to that of the Irish. There is nothing to prevent the Irish from making the top three.

"We just have to fine tune a few things," said Gearoid Towey. "It wasn't a question of being nervous or anything, we have all raced at this level before, we just didn't get out of the blocks. So we know what we did wrong and know how to correct it."

The time statistics illuminate the debilitating affect that the lethargic start had on the team. Ireland lost 7.2 seconds on the leading Australian boat over the first 1,500 metres but lost only half a second over the last 1,000 metres. Furthermore they were the quickest team over the closing 500 metres.

"If the boat speed is not up there early on, you will lost about .75 seconds every 250 metres - you just can't recover. This is a fast crew, we were just not aggressive enough at the start. To correct that, well, you just give them a bollocking, basically," said Simms.

Neville Maxwell confirmed that said "bollocking" had been duly administered shortly after the heat. Far from despondent about the situation, the affable Galwayman quickly threw a positive spin on it.

"Look, teams have won All-Irelands by coming through the back door. Hopefully we can do the same thing here."

Failure to advance to the final would represent huge disappointment in an Olympic tournament that has given the Irish little to cheer about as yet. Although the dismal finish in the first heat suggests that the Irish four were simply off the pace, the team is adamant that the result was deceptive.

"This is a medal-standard boat," said Simms. "We have absolutely no excuses for what happened on Monday, none, all the preparation was perfect.

"Nothing has been lost yet. We need to get out on the water tomorrow now and perform to our ability in the repechage. Technically speaking they rowed very well yesterday, had a fine rhythm but they just didn't have the power because of the start. But they'll be fired up and we'll see that spirit tomorrow."