Canterbury grind out win over tenacious Parramatta

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Parramatta Eels v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs

In a low-scoring gritty contest at Commbank, the Bulldogs held on to win 16-8 over the Eels in front of 24,059 boisterous fans.

There were signs of worry early for the Eels when Canterbury went over through a soft Parramatta middle, Daniel Suluka-Fifita opening the scoring for the Belmore club.

The Eels' resolve tightened somewhat before 19 minutes in Will Penisini scored the hosts' first to narrow the margin to 6-4.

A quickfire double from Canterbury-Bankstown either side of the half-hour mark - first for Bronson Xerri sliding to the left edge before Blake Wilson scored acrobatically in the right corner - put the visiting side up by ten points, and they retained that 14-4 lead heading into the break.

Only one try was scored after halftime where former Bulldog Josh Addo-Carr surged over on the right edge at 48 minutes, but the Eels wouldn't trouble the scorers further after that.

In fact - the only other points after that moment were a Stephen Crichton penalty goal on fulltime after a needless penalty conceded by Kitione Kautoga in the dying moments for an escort on a Bulldogs chaser.

The grinding contest will be a relief for the Eels' faithful - few would've expected a win but would have been heartened by a much-improved effort given their first two performances this season.

Canterbury meanwhile showed they have some work to do despite winning - they still have a few weeks before five-eighth Matt Burton and second rower Viliame Kikau return and their attack suffered in those two being missing.

Parramatta will head to Brookvale next Sunday to face the Sea Eagles in the same timeslot, while Canterbury will visit the Shire, where Cronulla host them on Saturday night.