I made sure to organize a business meeting with someone who wanted to watch the Rugby last Friday when South Africa took on Italy just after midday SA time.

The Boks were massive favourites, but there were a number of punters who felt Italy could beat the handicap and I was one of them. The handicap had been set at (+30.5) points, meaning Italy only had to come within 31 points to win that bet. I had taken the (+30.5) and as the money came for it had also taken (+28.5) so while I was decked in my Boks shirt and hoping for a Springbok victory, I was at the same time banking on Italy to be competitive.

The Boks dominated from the start, but two injuries to the two Italy tight heads meant uncontested scrums which certainly levelled the playing fields a bit and gave me hope. At 14 points down early in the second half Italy attacked and won a penalty in the corner however one of their intellectually challenged forwards had committed a red card offence after the whistle and with that my chances of landing the handicap bet went out the window.

After the game I headed to the office where I was greeted by plenty of handshakes and back slapping by others in Springbok jerseys. Everyone was in a jovial mood after the Bok win and they could not understand the fact that I was looking rather down. I tried explaining the fact that I wanted South Africa to win, but not by as many points as they did, but was generally greeted with blank expressions and was reminded just how hard it is to explain handicap betting to non-punters.

South Africa are certainly looking the business this World Cup and they have shortened into 4/1 second favourites behind New Zealand who are 12/10 with England currently priced at 9/2.

They will be watching the weekend’s action with interest to see if Japan beats Scotland to book a quarter-final place against the Boks or whether the Scots beat the Japanese leaving South Africa more likely to play Ireland. In any event I will just be happy the Springboks next game is on the weekend so I won’t have to face those in the office after another Bok win by too many points.

Twitter: @BrentGraham

This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was published on the 10 October 2019.

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