June has not been a good betting month so it was nice to break a 3 week losing run this past weekend.

Looking back at my results though it could have gone either way. The Cheetahs were fielding a much-weakened team against Griquas and I tipped the Griquas to win at 1/1 in my Betting Preview. They delivered, but I had also taken Griquas over 30.5 points, meaning I needed them to score 31 or more and after 35 minutes they had yet to score a point and I had given up on the bet. I went out for a jog, recorded the game and when I came back fast forwarded it expecting the worst, only for a Griquas intercept try to seal a late profit.

I then went to a braai (I won’t be going to one of those for a couple of weeks) where we watched the British and Irish Lions take on Japan. I felt I had to have a bet and was convinced by my Irish host to take the Lions (-17.5). They stormed to a 28-0 lead and the bet looked home and hosed only for Japan to come back strong. Fortunately the final score of 28-10 meant that once again I won my bet by the narrowest of margins.

Not everything fell my way and I backed Van Der Poel, the favourite for Stage 1 of the Tour de France, only for Alaphilippe to convincingly win and in the next stage which appeared tailor made for Alaphilippe I backed him only for Van Der Poel to come out and grab the victory. Two great cycling stages to watch, but I wish I could have switched my bets around.

There was good news on Monday with the second victory in succession for the Goodforthegame filly, Loving the Victory, congrats to Nathan, Sage and the team on the great job they have done with her.

Looking to this weekend the British and Irish Lions tour starts and I must admit seeing the crowds in Euro 2020 was quite depressing. They play and we will bet is my motto and a few weeks ago I must say I couldn’t see the Lions losing, but I wasn’t overly impressed with them against Japan and I am now starting to think the Springboks can do the business in the 3 Test Series.

Twitter: @BrentGraham.

This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was published on the 1 July 2021.

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