I love Super Rugby season and for me there are few things more enjoyable than sitting on the couch watching and betting on match after match. I also enjoy getting away with the family though and that usually means a trade off which sees me sacrifice some rugby for relaxation.

This past weekend we were invited by friends to join them on a game farm in the Waterberg. The good news is that the lodge we stayed at had electricity, DSTV and even a flat screen television but the bad news is that being a mountainous area cell phone signal is virtually non-existent.

Knowing this I left my trusty laptop at home and after lengthy negotiations with the wife it was agreed that I would watch and bet on only 2 matches being the Blues v Cheetahs and Lions v Reds.

I had chosen these games because they were afternoon kickoffs (no dew factor) and I fancied plenty of tries and was keen to get involved in the spread markets. With the Blues game starting at 06h30 Saturday morning I set about trying to get a bet on the evening before.

Cell phone in hand I located a small game trail leading up the mountain just behind where we were staying. Walking with my phone held out in front of me to check for signal (to some I would have looked like a serious hiker following a compass) I headed up, crashing my way through dense bush while keeping an eye out for snakes. 

Every so often the phone would tease me with a “searching for network” message but as the sound of kids playing below faded and the trail ended I was still no closer to having a punt. On I plundered stopping only at the distant bark of a baboon and to wipe away the cobweb of a giant orb spider that ranged centimeters from my face, shortening my life expectancy by at least a decade.

At last the signal bar flickered and covered with sweat and cuts I made the call to the bookmaker. I managed to squeeze out my 1^st bet before the line dropped. Even as I considered pressing on, the now much louder and aggressive baboon bark had me scurrying back down the mountain to safety. In the end it turned out to be a pretty expensive excursion up a mountain although that baboon’s timely intervention prevented greater damage being done. 

  This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was first published on the 7^th of April 2011.

Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and presents a sports betting radio show every Thursday night from 22h00 – 22h30 on 1485AM Radio Today or Channel 169 of the DSTV Audio Bouquet and to get on his free weekly e-mail list just send a message to brent@goodforthegame.co.za titled “Best Bets”.

You can follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/brentgraham or get on his mailing list by dropping him a line at brent@goodforthegame.co.za