In 2001, he moved to the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. In the same year, he played in Canterbury's 52-10 elimination final loss against Cronulla-Sutherland. In the 2002 NRL season, Rauhihi played 23 games for Canterbury in what turned out to be one of the club's most turbulent. After going on a 16-game winning streak, it was discovered by the NRL that Canterbury had exceeded the NRL's salary cap by $2 million over 3 years including undisclosed payments made to players. As a result, the NRL fined Canterbury $500,000 and stripped them of all their 37 competition points meaning that the club would finish the 2002 season with the wooden spoon.