Most sports punters love a good multiple bet which when it arrives can result in big profits for a small stake. Two weeks ago for example I wanted an interest in the Sunday action but was not keen to give back Saturday’s hard earned profits. I selected 4 results which consisted of 2 rugby bets in Europe, Chelsea to beat Man United and Hull and Stoke to draw and put R100 on at 22/1.

The first leg was the Hull fixture and after 90 minutes the scores were locked at 1-1. Hull though got a second deep into injury time and my bet was blown out of the water (when taking a multiple all selections must arrive) and I shook my head as the remaining 3 legs came home. I had literally been within seconds of a nice Sunday bonus although going out in the first leg meant I never really got involved in the other matches and it was more a case of a shrug of the shoulders at what might have been and I moved on.

The story this weekend for one of our Forum contributors was very different though. Hanrick had taken a bet at odds of 32/1 on 5 rugby matches. He took conservative options early on and on Friday night caught the first 2 legs namely Samoa +19.5 and France +7.5.

A good night’s sleep and two games later and Hanrick was starting to get excited. England as predicted won by between 1 and 12 points and Italy were within 12 points of New Zealand at half time.

He now had an anxious wait for the Ireland v Australia game on the Sunday where he had gone for Australia by between 1 and 12 points inclusive as his final leg.

The Aussies were quick out of the blocks and while the Irish fought back Australia always looked in control and Hanrick’s main concern was that they would kick on to win by 13 or more.

Seconds remained and Australia led by 7 when suddenly the defense opened for O’Driscoll to rescue an unlikely draw for Ireland. Hanrick must have been broken as he had effectively survived 44 hours and 404 minutes of rugby before losing out in the 405^th minute.

Two similar bets both undone in the final seconds of a match but Hanrick’s late loss was by far the more painful blow to stomach.

This article first appeared in the Citizen CitiGaming section on Thursday 19 November 2009

Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and presents a sports betting radio show every Saturday morning at 07h30 on 1485AM Radio Today or Channel 169 of the DSTV Audio Bouquet.

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