GREAT Britain’s men’s eight, including Matthew Langridge from Northwich, produced their best performance of the season at a World Cup regatta in Poland on Sunday.

They took silver following a close encounter with Germany, the reigning Olympic champions, in the final at Poznan.

It marks a significant improvement on their result at Lucerne last time out, when they finished fourth.

The British team could feel positive overall at the end of the three-day event – the final international regatta before this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio – winning two gold medals, three silver and as many bronze.

On Saturday Langridge and company had finished third, behind Germany and New Zealand, in a race to decide lane the order for Sunday’s final.

They were more aggressive from the start, leading the way after 500m and matching the Germans stroke for stroke for the remainder.

The rivals were separated by little more than a metre by the finish, leaving the Kiwis to settle for bronze.

“That was a great turnaround from Saturday,” said cox Phelan Hill afterwards.

“We know now that we can deliver.”

Scott Durant, Tom Ransley, Andrew T Hodge, Matt Gotrel, Pete Reed, Paul Bennett and Will Satch joined Langridge in the boat.

“We have really moved on since Lucerne, which we needed to,” said Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing’s performance director.

“That will give us confidence to go to our training camps and prepare for a strong Olympic regatta.

“We know there are still more hard yards to put in yet.”