I am not going to talk about last weekend’s betting for too long as it was frankly a weekend to forget thanks mainly to Leinster dropping me heavily on Sunday where they not only lost to La Rochelle but failed to score the 25 points I required them to.

The beautiful thing about betting is you don’t have to wait long to get revenge on the bookmakers and that is what I am planning this week, starting with the Super Rugby Aotearoa Final on Saturday morning.

The Crusaders go into this game as firm favourites in the betting as (-10.5) points, but I have been impressed with the Chiefs this season and I think they can push the home team all the way. I am going to go for the Crusaders to win the match, but by 12 points or less at a price of 15/10.

I won’t have time to catch my breath then it is off to another Super Rugby Grand final, this time in Australia where the Reds are hosting the Brumbies. The Reds had won every game this season until a surprise defeat to the Force last time out, but it must be remembered that they had nothing to play for whereas the Force were playing for a place in the playoffs. They lost that playoff match to the Brumbies and the Reds now start (-4.5) favourites against a team they have beaten by exactly 2 points in both matches they have played this season.

Personally I feel the Brumbies have declined as the season has progressed while the Reds have continued to improve and I think the home team are going to win this by more than the 5 points we need to beat the handicap.

There are also a few excellent local derbies on the go this weekend with the Sharks 12 point favourites against the Lions and the Stormers narrow favourites at home to the Bulls. I don’t have any strong fancies there yet, but will no doubt be getting involved one way or another.

This week sees the start of the Giro d’Italia a 3 week Grand Tour and I love my cycling betting. In the first stage an individual time trial, I backed Remi Cavagna to win at odds of 23/10.

Whatever you are betting on this weekend may things roll your way and hit those bookies hard.

Twitter: @BrentGraham.

This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was published on the 6 May 2021.

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