This past weekend’s Sports Betting started and ended in dramatic fashion.

On Friday night I was on the Puma to finish within 11 points of the Cheetahs. Things went well early and the Pumas led 17-7 at one stage before falling apart and with just 90 seconds left on the clock they trailed by 11 points and I was losing my bet. They won a scrum thanks to a forward pass in the Cheetahs half and I told the people I was watching with that the Pumas would win a scrum penalty, kick to touch and score a try. That is exactly what happened and I had won my bet in the dying seconds of the game (a fact my hosts neighbours can attest to).

If that was a sign that I was going to be in for a good weekend unfortunately it was not the case. I had a solid bet the next day on over 54 points in the Leinster match and with 35 minutes left I only required another converted try. Unfortunately all I got were two penalties with the line finishing on 54 points and I had lost this bet by the narrowest of margins.

I was then on over 55.5 points in the Lions v Sharks game a bet which was never a runner.

I chased my losses on Sunday and at half-time of the Harlequins game against Racing, I took Harlequins over 10.5 points. They had yet to score, but I was hoping that Racing would step off the gas at some point and allow them in. Quins got a converted try just short of the 20 minute mark which means I had another 20 minutes for them to score again. The final seconds of the game ticked by and Harlequins appeared to score a brilliant try and I leapt from the couch with my weekend saved.

It was then I heard the dreaded second blow on the ref’s whistle and it was clear that the TMO wanted to have a look at something. One of the Harlequins players had pulled back a Racing player, a move that probably wouldn’t have made any difference to the try, but was judged as foul play and the try was disallowed.

A bad end to a poor weekend and here is hoping I can bounce back on Boxing Day.

Twitter: @BrentGraham.

This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was published on the 24 December 2020.

Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and sends a free weekly e-mail list just CLICK HERE to register