The rookies of the River City Rollers got their baptism of fire at Jubilee Stadium on Saturday evening as the club's 'freshies' were beaten by the Bay City Rollers 219-151.
While the Hawkes Bay club also used the jam to give experience to some of their new members, they stillhad some veterans, whereas Rollers coach and former New Zealand player Mel McGhie used criteria of not using any player with more than three caps to their name.
"Our team, we had six who have never played roller derby before." Bay City managed to pull away in the second half, although McGhie said the home team never gave up and she was proud of them.
"At halftime, we weren't that far behind. If we got a power jam we could have evened the score.
"The second half, they seemed to rack up enough points to increase the score [margin]."
The Rollers will now bring their veterans back on court to join their rookies for two more events this season.
On November 12, they take on KCDC down in Kapiti in a rematch of their first jam this year, then return to play the Timaru Derby Games club at Jubilee on December 3.
"We're ending the season with a bang," McGhie said.
