South Sydney have snuck home on the back of a try double to Cameron McInnes for a 16-12 win over Manly at Brookvale Oval on Thursday night.

In an entertaining match to open the NRL’s fifth round, Souths totally dominated the opening exchanges to jump out to a 16-0 lead, before finishing off the game with their defence against a resurgent Sea Eagles.

Manly were poor early, letting in two soft tries to McInnes.

The Rabbitohs rake worked his way over from dummy half in the sixth and 11th minutes. The visitors added to that lead 17 minutes later when Cody Walker muscled his way over for a scoreline of 16-0.

The running was all with Souths, as Sam Burgess, in his comeback from a neck injury, and brother George, led the way.

But with Daly Cherry-Evans sidelined, Manly’s makeshift halves combination of Dylan Walker and Apisai Koroisau then made their impact felt on the contest.

Against their old club Walker and Koroisau continually threatened the line with ball in hand as the locals began to dominate the forward battle.

Koroisau was rewarded for his hard work when he forced his way over on the hour mark as Manly bridged the score to 16-12.

The Sea Eagles enjoyed the best of field position for the final 20 minutes but couldn’t land the killer blow as Souths bounced back well from their 42-12 thrashing to Canterbury last week.