LRR Rising Stars 46 – Kallio Rolling Rainbow 296
I must admit, I was bewildered for a while on this one – who the fuck are Kallio Rolling Rainbow? Turns out they’re from Helsinki, and must have been a last minute addition as I wasn’t expecting a guest international team on the bill tonight. And it has to be said, I don’t think London Rockin’ Rollers were expecting them either.
Hugely underestimating the determined Finns, LRR fielded their ‘Rising Stars’ B-Team, and were thoroughly trounced for their troubles. A fairly slow-paced bout on the whole, but Kallio rapidly made their presence felt, taking a solid lead halfway through the first period and building points upon points as time ticked away to win with one of the biggest margins I’ve ever seen in UK Derby. I really did think they were going to top the 300 mark by the end, and they weren’t far off.
Where LRR really lost, as can so often be the case, is on the powerjams. Racking up the penalties hard, all too often the LRR jammer found themselves stuck in the penalty box, yielding the track to the obviously well-skilled Kallio jammers. I think at one point they managed a 29-point jam, no mean feat in two minutes, whatever your angle.
LRR All Stars 98 – LRG Brawl Saints 167
I’ll bet there were a fair few sharp intakes of breath when this bout was announced – London Rockin’ Rollers go head-to-head with the London Rollergirls! A ‘London Derby derby’ if you will. Two long-term London teams who have never faced each other in a headline bout (there’ve been a few minor skirmishes at tournaments, but that’s a different matter), and whilst we’d like to think there’s no grudges, you can’t deny there’s a rivalry and reputations at stake tonight.
Obviously being in different leagues these days, with LRG being semi-pro and LRR still being quite open, it’s the LRR A-Team playing the LRG travel / B-Team, which puts us on a semi-even footing tonight. Could the Rockin’ Rollers really slay a giant here in Newham Leisure Centre tonight?
With LRR taking first blood on points, and an alternating lead for much of the first period, it really could have been possible. LRG took the first period in the end, but that was far from the last word, as ten minutes into the second, LRR snatched the lead back again with a score-bending jam from number ‘L7’, Lady Lazarus.
With the LRG Brawl Saints fronting some of their dirtier-playing skaters tonight (some of you may remember names such as Lola Vulkano and Hula Gunn from the old LRG ‘black and pink’ days), it suited the LRR’s, shall we say, ‘penalty-heavy’ style of play well, with again a lot of powerjams throwing the score heavily to either side’s favour. Sadly though, the penalty tally really started to take its toll on LRR as the second period progressed – too many LRR jammers out on penalty, giving experienced LRG skaters the open track they needed to really rack up the points difference.
The resulting 98-167 end score really doesn’t show how close a match these teams are, and how relatively well-balanced the challenge was tonight. A good showing for LRR against the ‘local rivals’, they can certainly walk away from that one with their heads held high, and gold stars on their trucks.
The Kallio visitors certainly thought so – there was an excellent line-up of the Rainbow Rollers in the closing minutes, who lifted their tops for the headline skaters (sadly, sports bras still on, but hey, you can’t have everything). Finns eh? What can you do.
