Rugby World Cup: TAB's last man standing bows out after backing Uruguay

Japan's win caused thousands of punters to drop out of the TAB's Punt a Million competition. Photo / Getty.

The TAB's Punt at a Million competition has come to a premature end after the first round of Rugby World Cup pool matches, with the weekend's lone surviving punter bowing out this morning.

Russell Walker, the 22-year-old part-time security guard from Canterbury, and last man standing in the TAB's betting competition, had his hopes and dreams crushed when Wales walloped Uruguay 54-9 at Millennium Stadium.

Walker's knack for backing the underdog came back to bite him, and cost him his chance at pocketing the $1,000,000 prize, after outlasting 47,723 other unlucky punters who failed to last the weekend.

"He was up against it, needing another monumental upset, but he was put out of his misery quite early with Uruguay never really looking a hope against Wales," said TAB media manager Mark Stafford.

"But he did a fantastic job to get as far as he did in picking the Japanese to beat the South Africans."

The competition required punters to go out on a limb and pick if a match would be a draw or nominate the winner, and whether the margin would exceed or fall below 12 points.

Walker bucked the trend by correctly picking Georgia to beat Tonga, and the mother of all World Cup upsets - Japan to topple South Africa.

Georgia's victory saw 35,000 punters fall off the list, leaving just 452 in the running before Ireland's clash with Canada.

Japan's stunning result meant the game was up by Sunday morning for everyone but Walker, who carried the hopes of a nation by himself for another 24 hours.

"I thought at this stage there would still be eight or nine thousand," said Stafford.

"I expected South Africa to not only win but win easily. That just cut us down.

"I was surprised how many people didn't take Georgia because they are a good side. So that was a killer blow and Japan was the fatal blow for just about everyone."

Stafford said the shock results of the tournament's opening weekend had opened punters up to the potential of the lesser-ranked sides.

Argentina had received some support for this morning's match against the All Blacks, with the reigning World Cup champions previously considered almost red hot favourites.

"It was really successful. Everyone's been talking about it. That result [Japan] has had an impact on betting patterns," said Stafford.

"What it has done is we have seen some money come in for the underdogs. People are now believing that the underdogs are a chance.

"We did see some money for Argentina against the All Blacks, and away from the All Blacks 13 and over and more into the 12 and under.

"We were delighted with the participation. Everyone got a bit of a buzz but we were expecting to last a little bit longer but what can you do."