Veitchy discusses Japan's unexpected victory over South Africa today during the Rugby World Cup
Just one Kiwi punter remains in the hunt to snare $1 million by correctly picking the results of every Rugby World Cup match.
The TAB's "One Punt in a Million" competition allowed people to guess the winning team and the margin of all 48 matches.
After 47,724 people made theirpredictions, only Russell Walker from Kaiapoi still has a chance of taking out the million, although that hangs on the likelihood of more shock results like last night's Japanese win over South Africa.
Almost 36,000 people remained in the hunt after England beat Fiji, but Georgia's triumph over Tonga pruned that number to 452.
Most correctly predicted Ireland would romp home against Canada, but of the 439 who were in the hunt at kick-off, just two people remained by the final whistle in Japan's famous win.
Mr Walker's rival was then knocked out as France beat Italy.
To win $1m from here, he'll have to correctly predict the winner and margin of victory, either 12 points or under or 13 and over, for the rest of the tournament.
And that looks unlikely as he tips Uruguay to beat Wales and USA to topple Manu Samoa.
Speaking from Christchurch today, Mr Walker said he selected a lot of the winners, including Japan last night, at random.
He picked the All Blacks to win all of their matches and the Aussies, France and English teams to win most of their games.
The news he was the last left in the TAB's competition left Mr Walker "shocked", but capped off a decent weekend for him after his table tennis team won their division in the South Island champs yesterday.
He didn't watch the Japanese win, saying he only tunes in for the "big games".
"I didn't realise I'd picked Japan until the TAB told me. I picked them to win by a random [method]. I did that with a few other teams as well."
If he won the $1m, Mr Walker said he wasn't a big spender and would save a chunk of it, although he said, laughing, it could mean early retirement from his part-time job as a security officer.
Bets on underdog pay off
Image 1 of 10: Ayumu Goromaru of Japan tackles Jean De Villiers of South Africa. Photo / Getty Images
With South Africa paying barely over $1 to beat Japan, 88 of the 91 people who put money on a head-to-head result at the TAB backed the underdog.
Japan opened at $18 and the biggest bet on the head-to-head was $100, which at $18 paid $1800.
Another punter managed a return of more than $4000, when he put $50 on Japan at $82.
TAB bookie Mark Stafford said more people have placed bets on Argentina in their clash with the All Blacks after last night's results."It shows the underdog is a live hope."
