For the first time ever, the Bay of Plenty have entered a team into the New Zealand Rugby National Championship.

The Bay of Plenty team the Steamrollers will compete in the championship at the Allen Brewster Leisure Centre in Papatoetoe on today and tomorrow.

Wheelchair Rugby is a dynamic, strategic wheelchair sport played on a basketball court.

A member of the Steamrollers Amanda Lowry says physical contact between wheelchairs is an integral part of the game.

'All wheelchair rugby players need to have disabilities that include at least some loss of function in at least three limbs. Players are assigned points dependant on their function, and each team is limited to a total of eight points.”

'I'm a low pointer which means I have low function. My job is to screen, protect and run lines for our high functioning ball carriers so that they can score.”

The New Zealand Rugby National Championships are the pinnacle event for all participants of wheelchair rugby.

This year five teams from across New Zealand will battle it out for the Championships title.

Waikato are defending their title and have a very strong team. The Auckland, Canterbury and Waikato teams all have current Wheel Blacks players in their teams and the Nationals has tempted the 2004 Paralympian gold medallists out of retirement to form a team and compete as the ‘Has-Beens'.