THE Plymouth Dolphins got their Development Merit League season off to a winning start with a narrow 10-7 away win at Brighton & Hove Sea Serpents.

Peter Ritchie opened up the scoring for the Dolphins after some quick thinking from scrum-half Will Jones to change the direction of play, resulting in Ritchie beating two defenders to score in the corner.

The next try came from debutant Ewan Stephens with a powerful run from a tap-and-go from around the 10-metre line, breaking multiple tackles to slide over in the corner.

It was a difficult start to the second half for the Dolphins with Taylor Ryan and Will Jones both receiving yellow cards and the home side earning a penalty try.

But the visitors stepped up to put in a massive defensive shift to deny the Sea Serpents of any further points while down to 13 players.

Chris Parkes, the Dolphins’ club photographer, came off the bench for the final 15 minutes to make his debut for the club and came close to scoring immediately.

The Dolphins kept Brighton in their own 22 for the majority of the last 10 minutes, showing great composure and determination to see the game out.