TAB review June 30

[dave nz]

Rugby punters couldn't find much value in the All Blacks against Italy at the weekend so they concentrated their efforts more on the Wallabies-France and the Springboks against the Lions.

We did take a $10,000 wager on the All Blacks at $1.01 and although it was far from a vintage All Black effort, the money ($100), was pretty safe. Another winning bet on that test was $7,400 at $1.06 on the All Blacks to lead at halftime and fulltime. That profit was $444.

It was a different story for the match in Sydney between the Wallabies and France. The French were extremely competitive in New Zealand over two tests matches and were expected to test Robbie Dean's side. Despite that doubt we fielded a bet of $100,000 at $1.33 and in the finish they got home quite comfortably despite scoring just the one try. There was also a wager of $5,500 at $1.50 that the Wallabies would lead at halftime and win the game - which they did. Meanwhile in Pretoria the Springboks were looking to wrap up the series against the Lions after winning narrowly in Durban the week before. Before the match we took a $57,500 bet on the Boks and it was looking extremely shaky as the Lions turned on their best performance of the tour. However the Boks at altitude were always likely to finish strongly and sure enough, with time up, Morne steyn landed a penalty and the punter got the money. In that game there was also an $8,250 bet at $1.60 that South Africa would lead at halftime and fulltime but the Lions were much too good in the first half for that wager to succeed.

The second State of Origin match went the same way as the first, Queensland shot out to a big early lead, New South Wales fought back, and then Queensland pulled away to take the honours and wrap up yet another series, their fourth in a row. Notable bets on the Maroons included $40,000 at $1.30, and two bets of $15,000 on Qld/Qld - halftime/fulltime - the first at $2.25 and the second at $2.15. Staying with rugby league and there were a couple of healthy bets on the Dragons to beat the Tigers, which they did. There was $25,000 at $1.40 and $15,000 at $1.35.

Not too far away from the all-star break in baseball as the season approaches the halfway mark. Some significant bets on the sport during the week : $12,000 at $1.97 on Atlanta and the NY Yankees scoring 8 runs or less ( loser ), $10,625 at $1.82 on the Yankees and NY Mets 9 runs or less ( winner ), and $10,236 at $1.75 on Arizona and Texas 9 runs or less ( loser ).

Other bets of significance during the week , all winners. $10,000 at $1.30 on the Waikato Pistons winning game 2 of the NBL finals against Nelson, and two bets of $10,000 at $1.30 on Brazil beating South Africa at the Confederations Cup.