Holyman happy with try double as Raiders close in on NRLW finals berth

Sophie Holyman is happy if she scores one try in a season.

She scored two in the last 10 minutes at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday to complete Canberra's 25-18 comeback victory over Newcastle as the Raiders took a giant stride towards securing their first NRLW finals berth.

The 28-year-old Queensland Origin front-rower crashed over under the posts in the 60th minute to give the Raiders an 18-14 lead after Zahara Temara's conversion.

In the 68th minute, after Temara's field goal had broken an 18-18 deadlock two minutes earlier, Holyman steamed on to another crisp pass from hooker Chante Temara to charge over next to the uprights and seal Canberra's first NRLW victory over Newcastle. 

Holyman scored two tries in 2023, her first year at the Raiders, one each in the past two seasons, and opened her 2026 account against the Sharks three weeks ago.

"It feels pretty surreal," Holyman told NRL.com after full-time.  "I know it's cliche to say it, but it comes from the hard work of the other girls around me. Us 'middles' have one job, and that's to get us forward.

"I've played with 'Littles', Chante Temara, since the inaugural season now, so we just had a look between each other for that pass, so it was awesome to snag that second one.

"It's not something that happens often but I'm very grateful."

Canberra trailed 10-0 after conceding two tries in the first 15 minutes, then 14-4 at half-time, but scored twice early in the second half while Newcastle's Sidney Taylor spent 10 minutes in the sin-bin for a hip-drop tackle and cut the deficit to 14-12.

Once they had clawed their way back into the contest, Holyman said the Raiders were always confident of finishing over the top of the Knights.

"That's the first thing we said to each other," Holyman said.

"It's always harder to have a comeback win, but sticking to what we knew we were good at was a key focus for us coming into that second half, and I feel like we did that really well.

"We knew that the momentum would shift again, and we don't go out in an attacking set and just think we're going to score off it, so we knew we had to build pressure.

"But where we were getting it, it was setting us up in a really good spot to attack and that's what we did. I had all faith in our girls going out in that second half that we were going to get the job done."

Raiders coach Darrin Borthwick was pleased with his team's response after they stunned previously unbeaten defending premiers Brisbane 28-4 in Canberra seven days earlier.

"Today's probably the grittiest win we've had since I've been at this club. It was really good to see the girls grind that out, and it was a terrific win for the club," Borthwick said.

"The way our middles are getting around each other at the moment is a testament to them.

"Semaima [Taufa], Sophie Holyman today obviously got a double, and I think that's on the back of them rolling their sleeves up together and doing a job.

"Chloe Saunders was good again today, Grace Kemp when she came on was pretty destructive, Grace Kukutai comes on and adds a little bit of energy for us around the middle, Hollie-Mae Dodd ... 

"On the back of what Sophie did today, that's on the back of some really good work from her other 'middles' as well."