Rowing: James gives Light Blues a fresh look as brotherhood rules waves

Tom James plays the guitar and yearns to be in a band. Heavy metal is his preference. But for the moment, he is more than content to be a member of a so solid crew, although the rhythms are emanating not from garage, but from the boat- house. The Cambridge freshman is, having just turned 19, the youngest participant in today's 149th Boat Race, and one of the lighter and least-experienced components of what is, despite their enforced last-minute reshuffle, a formidable-looking Light Blue boat.

But there are those, not least the Cambridge coach, Robin Williams, who believe that the occupant of the No 6 seat – a prize James has claimed only six months after going up to university – could have a prosperous international future ahead of him after today's annual examination of student muscle and character on the unforgiving waters of the Tideway.

"Tom has got real, natural talent," declares Williams. "He was in the British junior four last year which picked up a silver at the world championships. Yet, he's the most humble, straightforward guy you could ever meet. I don't think he fully sees his own potential. But those around him do. He just moves boats fast. Usually you expect young freshmen to struggle, but they do get in from time to time, and Tom's earned that six seat on merit."

Ben Smith, meanwhile, is in the bow seat by accident. The collision with a harbourmaster's launch on Friday which cost Wayne Pommen his place in Cambridge's boat, has created history that makes this race even more of a brother-hood. Ben, Pommen's 19-year-old replacement, is the younger brother of the Oxford stroke and president, Matt. The Livingstons, Cambridge's James, 22, and Oxford's David, 19, were already going to be the first set of brothers to race against each other in the event. Now there are two. And by a further quirk, all four went to the same school, Hampton.

Pommen suffered a broken wrist in the collision, which happened when Cambridge were practising at full speed on Friday afternoon. "It is obviously very hard for him and we all feel for him," Williams said. The Cambridge boat was also damaged, and three oars were written off. But a night of hard work on the boat, and a day of settling in for the younger Smith, will, they hope, have them back on a course that was looking so good until Friday's hiccup.

The Light Blues coach has masterminded six victories from the last eight Boat Races. It would have been seven had the German international oarsman Sebastian Mayer not become exhausted, with Cambridge looking to be in command, in the closing stages of last year's event. The race culminated in Oxford winning by two-thirds of a length in an enthralling finish. This year, Cambridge's weight superiority of an average of more than a stone (over seven kilos) a man endows them with a significant theoretical advantage, but as Tim Foster demonstrated in the British four which won Olympic gold at Sydney 2000, technical virtues can be just as important.

James, a lean side of beef at 6ft 3in, may have turned the scales at a below-average 13st 5lb (84.8kg) at Tuesday's weigh-in, but speaks with the authority of the engineering student he is by maintaining: "The power-to-weight ratio is something that's often missed. Tim Foster was very efficient in the water. That's why lightweights can beat heavyweights, and often they are better rowers." His coach adds: "He's perfectly powerful enough, and there's scope for development. Don't forget that Steve Redgrave, once upon a time, was 11 to 12 stone. Tom is one who will go forward for the Great Britain trials after the Boat Race."

Last March, this son of an army major father and a physiotherapist mother, from Wrexham, witnessed the Boat Race on television, having just applied to study at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. "The thought never remotely occurred to me that I could be in the race this year," he says. "So, it's a real surprise I've made it. I've gone though the year not expecting anything. Once you get to this stage, you just have to hope it is all worth it. I just don't want to think about losing."

He concedes that he may be scared, "or if not scared, very, very nervous", in the minute before the starter drops his flag, "though at No 6, in the middle of the boat, it's a simple task, as long as you row long, row hard, keep your head down and let Tim [the gargantuan president, Tim Wooge; 6ft 7in and nearly 16st, the stroke and a two-time Boat Race victor] take the responsibility, and do what your cox says."

James adds: "You've got to try not to let the race affect you too much. I have never been in front of a big crowd before, with 200,000 watching, so I am not sure how I will react. It's quite surreal in a way; like a dream. You might suddenly wake up from the rowing and find all those thousands of people cheering and think: 'What the hell am I doing?' "

Which begs the question, why do these students devote their energies to an event which is regarded by many as an irrelevant anachronism? "It's addictive," says James. "Sometimes it can become rather tedious, but when you're away from it you can't wait to get back into the boat. It's about competition, and it's about glory."

Until the age of 13, James played football, in central midfield, at the King's School, Chester, but then developed a persistent knee injury. "My mother [Julia] suggested taking up another sport, one which wasn't high-impact. So I got into rowing, had a really good first year and just fell in love with it." It has proved infectious. In the last couple of years, his father, Mike, who serves in the Royal Corps of Transport, based at Shrewsbury, has also taken up rowing.

Williams, who is the antithesis of his theatrical counterpart but still the recipient of "humorous" references about his name, is less a Mrs Doubtfire and more a Mr Doubtless of the qualities he sees in his crew. "We have got a little bit more depth in our squad than last year and they are a really good bunch, they all push each other on. It doesn't mean to say that people never argue, but I don't have a problem with that. You want strong characters who can think for themselves. We haven't had any fisticuffs or anything like that, just plenty of frank discussions about how we're doing."

Williams concedes that last year was "a bitter loss", but is confident that this crew can make amends. "But for the guys in Sunday's race, what happened in 2002 doesn't really matter to them. They just want to win the 149th." And for young James, possibly the first of many.

Today's race from Putney to Mortlake begins at 4.30pm. TV: BBC 1, 3.25pm.