By Tom Harle at Vaires-sur-Marne

Cheltenham rower Tom George admitted a tactical change will be needed if he is to claim Olympic glory in the final of the men's pair. 

Wynne-Griffith and partner Tom George, who are childhood friends, will be one of the favourites for the medals in a stacked field for the showpiece.

Having been subject to early shock tactics by the German crew, the duo cruised through Sunday's heat to advance to the semi-finals.

The semi-final was a little more problematic as the Brits found themselves occupying the third and last automatic qualifying spot for the majority of the contest.

The Irish crew of Nick Timoney and Ross Corrigan got off to the quickest start before Romania’s Florin Arteni and Florin Lehaci surged through the field.

The Romanians did not give up the lead, but George and Wynne-Griffith managed to overhaul the Irish in sealing safe passage.

George said: “We’ve won every race we’ve done by having this quite nice slow burn through the race and taking people apart in the second half.

“Everyone sees that when you do it and that will lead people to try different things. People have jumped out on us and we probably stayed too calm and gave them a little bit too much distance.

“We need to be a bit more aggressive in that first 25 or 30 strokes to make sure that we’re right there at the front of the field like we have been in every other race. It’s good learning, good that it happened now and we’re pretty positive about it ultimately.”

Among the crews jostling for podium places will be Croatia’s legendary Sinkovic brothers, who have won Olympic golds both in the pair and the double sculls.

Despite a scare of their own in the heats, reigning world champions Roman Roeoesli and Andrin Gulich of Switzerland both made it through to the final.

“All bets are off for Friday,” said Wynne-Griffith.

“We know that this time last year at Worlds we won our semi-final and got turned over in the final and the same happened the year before.

“It’s about us going out and executing our best race and then we’ll get a result that we’re really, really proud of.”

The Brits will race in lane five in the final, with semi-final rivals Romania and Ireland on either side of them.

Team GB's last medal in the event came with bronze at London 2012, won by Will Satch and George Nash.

Wynne-Griffith has a chance to go down in history with GB’s last victory in the discipline coming thanks to the legendary duo of Steve Redgrave and Matt Pinsent in 1996.

“We don’t fear anyone,” said George. “It’s going to be good fun.”

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