A weekend haul of six medals upheld the Irish record in the Coupe de la Jeunesse rowing event in Nottingham, and has fuelled expectations of further success for the junior men's team at their world championships which start on Wednesday in Belgium.

Ireland's composite quad, and the Offaly single sculler Padraig Hussey, marked their return to Nottingham - barely seven days since taking the junior men to within a point of the home international title - by claiming bronze and silver medals.

In nip and tuck finals yesterday, the quad, stroked by Neptune's Neil Casey, finished two seats down on their British opponents, and Hussey raced home behind Italian and Dutch scullers with just three seconds separating the medal positions.

The coxed four, drawn from Neptune, Portora and Fossa, raced two processional finals and were left to chase the Britons for silver.

"The standard here is only fractionally lower than the junior worlds and the fact that our sculling group excelled this weekend bodes well for our more experienced quad," said rowing union president Tom Fenessey.