Bertrand was rushed into the lightweight fours after contesting the World Under 23 Rowing Championships last month in the Czech Republic.

He combined with Angus Tyers (Victoria), Ross Brown (WA) and Darryn Purcell (Qld) on Monday to finish fourth in their heat, earning a repechage start last night (AEST) from lane five on the Malta Regatta Course, Poznan.

Unfortunately, the crew narrowly missed out on a place in the semi-finals after a third place finish in the repechage.

Through 1000m the Australian crew sat just behind Switzerland in second place, with Canada in third. The Canadians moved past Australia just short of the 1500m mark.

Switzerland won the repechage in 6:02.59, with Canada 13-hundredths of a second further back and Australia crossing the line in 6:04.93.

Bertrand and his crew will now row in the lower ranked semi-finals tonight (AEST).

Bertrand's father Tom said yesterday a decision to stay in Europe after the world under 23 titles was fortuitous, as Tommy was in Paris with his girlfriend Anita Lloyd when Australian rowing officials contacted him on August 4 to be on standby after Queensland team member Chris Bigg was injured in training.

"He stayed on and they trained together for a couple of weeks in Italy, then headed to Poland," Tom said.

"They all trained together in Melbourne so they're pretty well on (song) with each other.

"They're got good boat speed. I'm confident they'll get through the repechage."

Bigg hurt his back in the national team's pre-departure camp in Penrith. He travelled with the team to Italy but returned home after a week.

Tommy, who is now based in Melbourne, is no stranger to making late national team entries.

He was a last-minute called up the Australian team for the 2008 world under 23 championships in Germany.

The 2009 under 23 titles last month in Racice, near Prague, were the last at under-age level for the 22-year-old university student.

The men's lightweight four was third through the 1000m mark of its heat but could not hold off Great Britain over the closing stages to finish in a time of 6:46.86.

Czech Republic won the heat, with Spain second and Great Britain third.

Asked what his son's reaction was to rowing at his first open-age world titles, Tom said: "It's why you do it."