But the two crews are likely to meet again at Henley and the scene is set for a classic confrontation.
Better to save their strength for what could be a classic confrontation in Monday night's national championship final.
"That's why tonight, in this terrific, classic confrontation, he's got a chance to do some damage."
The often angry debate centered on a classic constitutional confrontation.
And yet, it has the potential to be a classic confrontation.
Here, in short, we have the by-now classic American confrontation between commerce and art.
That was, after all, the classic confrontation in the cold war.
It was, as the saying goes in such a development, a classic confrontation.
It was the classic confrontation of an aging champion with a rising challenger.
What once might have been a classic confrontation was nothing more than a classic mismatch.