A weekend to frazzle nerves

Sometimes it seems like every bet you take goes down to the wire and when that is the case, you just hope that things fall your way. This past weekend was one of those and when the dust settled my nerves were frazzled. But, most importantly, I was ahead.

My first proper punt of the weekend came in the Hurricanes vs Crusaders game where I fancied plenty of points and backed over 51.5 points, meaning I needed a combined 52 points or more in the game to win. At halftime I was giving myself an imaginary back slap as with 38 points already banked I surely couldn’t lose this one?

As it turned out, I could. The second half was frustrating to watch and when the final whistle blew I was still four points shy of what I needed. My next bet was the Sharks to lead the Sunwolves by 12 or more at the break. This one was the exception to the rule this weekend in that I never really had to sweat as the Sharks entered the tunnel well clear.

The Six Nations game between Ireland and Scotland was about to kick off. I took 1/1 Ireland would score 14 or more first-half points and I soon found myself in trouble. Thankfully, Ireland scored an intercept try and then with time running out, they broke upfield, butchered a try before finally scoring. The conversion landed and I was out of jail.

I found more action in the Lions game where I backed the Blues to score 26 or more and this bet looked dead and buried in the last quarter. Somehow, the Blues rallied and not only scored 38 points but won the game. The match result was irrelevant to me but I was now nicely up for the weekend.

Before closing my eyes on Sunday night, I took a large Vancouver Sevens bet on Fiji to beat the Blitzbokke at 1/1. I really thought Fiji should be firm favourites and I woke to the news that Fiji won, but only just, perhaps it was just as well I slept through that.

Overall a great weekend despite the bad start. I am now fired up for next set of games.

Brent Graham is a sports betting blogger at

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