The Canterbury Bulldogs have put aside torrential rain to take an unexpected 18-12 victory over Newcastle at McDonald Jones Stadium.
In worsening conditions, Canterbury were able to retain possession better than the Knights during the opening 40 minutes but despite the better of the field position and possession, the Bulldogs could only manage the one first half try.
The Blue and White opened the scoring after just eleven minutes when Aiden Tolman was able to get his way over the line as the Newcastle defence couldn't get back in time after the Bulldogs somehow regathered a kick on the play before.
Injuries mounted during the opening 40 as well for the home-side as first Andrew McCullough was assisted from the field with a serious hamstring injury before Connor Watson was also assisted from the field with a ruptured achilles.
The second half started off perfectly for the Bulldogs with more Newcastle errors handing them possession and more attacking opportunities. Canterbury were able to add points early in the second half when Raymond Faitala-Mariner was able to barge his way over with a hard run and got the ball down.
Canterbury then extended their lead out to an 18-0 buffer when Jake Averillo slid his way through to get to the ball ahead of Herman Ese'ese who deflected the ball to the Bulldogs advantage.
Momentum then began to swing in favour of the hosts as they began to hold the ball and forced their way upfield. The Knights got their first four-pointer through Hymel Hunt that was able to step around his defenders and get through to score.
The pressure mounted massively on the Bulldogs as the rain continued to fall hard and it was some good work from Kurt Mann that created the field position and it was Sione Mata'utia that crossed out wide. Kalyn Ponga converted to push the margin back into six points.
The Bulldogs were forced to defend their line but they could do that and a poor kick from Kalyn Ponga undid the pressure and the Bulldogs survived to take their second win of the season.