The Barossa Rams rugby union B team headed to Brighton on Saturday for a match that could have delivered a place in the top four at the halfway mark of the season.

Unfortunately, they came away with a five-point loss.

With a number of players playing in unfamiliar positions the Rams took a little time to settle into the game.

From the kick-off Brighton put pressure onto the Rams defence with deep kicks forcing clearances from fullback Nigel Peters.

The Rams forwards held their own against a bigger Brighton pack and with Michael Dodd and Jason Cozzitorto winning line out ball, the Rams had a good foundation with which to mount attacks of their own. The Barossa backs worked hard running good lines but were let down by many handling errors throughout the match.

Brighton were the first to score with a try on the right hand side after the Rams defensive line was drawn in by the dummy runner allowing the Brighton centre a free run around the outside.

Barossa lifted their workrate and put Brighton under pressure with good ball possession in the forwards. Half back Shamus O’Reilly used runners close to the breakdown to gain metres before sending the ball to the backs who continued to run at the Brighton defenders.

The Rams were back on terms at the 20-minute mark when Tore Shaw drew defenders before sending Mark Cooper through for the try. The conversion from out wide by Nigel Peters gave the Rams the advantage 7-5.

Brighton came back at the Barossa line from the restart and a sustained period of strong forward drives eventually wore the Barossa defence down and Brighton scored the try which was converted and the half finished with the Rams trailing 7-12.

In the second half dropped ball continued to plague the Barossa attack taking much of the pressure off the Brighton defence.

The Rams were able to keep Brighton scoreless for the half despite several close calls with the Brighton pack driving at the Barossa line. The Rams were unable to turn this good defence into attack and also went scoreless.

The Barossa Rams under 12 team faced Vikings at their temporary home at Womma Road and came away with their first win in only the fourth game they have played together.

Coach Brad Mackay reported that the team had looked good from the start.

“ I don’t want to single out players but Daniel Mackay and Toby Harbus had excellent games in a fantastic team effort,” said Brad.