If you follow me on Twitter you will know that I get pretty grumpy during rugby games when things are not going well. I can moan about anything from the person who stops the clock, the commentators and of course my pet hate the TMO.

I am one of those punters who talk (or tweet) from the pocket and I confess that I am not exactly impartial when making some of my judgments. I am convinced though that over the years I have been hard done by when it comes to decisions requiring TMO intervention. I have had many a try ruled out for a marginal or inconclusive forward pass only for a blatant NFL pass to be totally overlooked in the next game.

The inconsistency drives me crazy and I often change channels as the TMO works his way painfully through the decision. On Saturday I took a chunky bet on the Lions to score 6 tries or more in their match against the Bulls. I got a bit better than 1/1 and after a slow start they kicked into gear and it looked as though I would collect heading into the last quarter as the Lions scored their 5th try.

The 5-poiners dried up though and with time up the Lions turned the ball over deep in Bulls territory and a grubber kick was sent into the try scoring zone. The Bulls player missed the ball and the Lions player only had to dot it down to score however it appeared both in real time and from his reaction that he had failed to do so.

When a player shakes his head you generally assume no try but they went upstairs anyway and to my amazement the TMO ruled that there was downward pressure. As I celebrated the unlikely win I paused to consider just how angry I would be were I betting in the other direction and that try had cost me money. I never lost sleep over it though as felt I was owed something after multiple heartbreaks in this area.

Needless to say the betting gods still had the last laugh when the VAR saw the French awarded a highly dubious penalty in the World Cup Final. I was on Croatia at 11/1 and they never recovered from that controversial (let’s just call it wrong) call.  

Twitter: @BrentGraham  

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This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was published on the 19th July 2018.

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