So the Lions are going to be led by Vermeer’s Man with the Pearl Earring, one Maro Itoje. If you haven’t seen the official announcement you’ll see what I mean.

Just two Welshmen make the cut, Jac Morgan and Tomos Williams. The big surprise is the inclusion of Henry Pollock. His meteoric rise through Northampton Saints and England has been impressive. Is it enough to justify his inclusion? Others can debate that.

15 Irish, 13 English, 8 Scots and the 2 Welsh make up the 38 man squad. A number of players miss out, Ben White, Jamie George, Nicky Smith, Darcy Graham, Tom Jordan are five that jump out. By contrast the inclusion of Pierre Schoeman, Mack Hansen, and Luke Cowan-Dickie might be questioned by some. Inevitably you can’t please all the people, all the time.

There are several players recovering from injury who still might be withdrawn. Blair Kinghorn, Duhan van der Merwe, Sione Tuipulotu and Mack Hansen fall into category.

We can now start to look forward to the games. SKY will cover every game live. The first is the warm up game on June 20th against Los Pumas

Before I move on, I have already been receiving WhatsApp messages expressing relief that Owen Farrell is not included. As I’ve been saying, it would have been a travesty if he had been picked.

The other question that has already come up is about what seems a lack of a specialist No.8. I think there are plenty in that back row selection that can fit in at #8 so I’m not concerned.

The one challenge is for those selected to stay fit. There is still plenty of games ahead in both the URC and the Premiership.

So there you have it. The Lions squad.

Before I go, I have been told some people have gone as far as contacting the RFU about this here blog. My email is bleater@crowboroughrugby.com if you don’t like the content.

Let me be clear, the views expressed are mine and do not reflect those of CRFC.

I understand the complaint was about immigration. Let me again be clear. Immigration into the UK is GOOD. In fact, it is vital. Right now the NHS, key transport services, other services, especially care, would collapse if it was not for immigration. People who come to the UK and work hard, pay their taxes and add a vibrancy to British society should be most welcome. That is, and always has been my position.

Also we need to be mindful of those who are genuine refugees, fleeing persecution and atrocities. We need to find a way to be quicker and more nimble on our feet in dealing with this issue.

Where I have an issue, and I stand by my position, is ILLEGAL immigration. People not fleeing persecution or global atrocities, but coming here often for nefarious reasons. Economic migrants who don’t want to contribute through work and taxes but want to exploit our soft benefit systems. As stated earlier, the amount of money this country is spending on illegal immigrants is a disgrace, especially when our care system is in a dire state. We need more nurses, more police officers on the streets, we need to improve basic infrastructures. All too often we are told there is not enough money hence my view. I’m sorry if that point of view offends.

You’ll be pleased to know, me, my blood pressure, and this blog are taking a break. I’ll be back in June ahead of the Lions tour when hopefully there’ll be plenty of rugby to discuss, and I can keep my opinions on the back burner.

Thursday 8th May: 08:45

May 8th, the day the guns fell silent across Europe 80 years ago. As war rages on in Ukraine, Israel talking about ethnic cleansing of Gaza, and India and Pakistan putting the world on the edge of a precipice, have we not learnt anything? It seems not. Innocent civilians are dying and for what? I don’t know. Whilst we rightly remember the heroes that brought about VE day, and the joy the country experienced as surrender was secured, maybe, just maybe, we the world need to reflect on the mess the world is now 80 years later.

Interestingly Russia will celebrate the end of ‘The Great Patriotic War’ tomorrow May 9th. If the history books are to be believed, this is a result of the Russians not being present when the original surrender and cessation of hostilities was agreed. A second signing was done the following day with the Russians present. It must be remembered that it was the Russian hammer and sickle that was flying over the Reichstag in Berlin on this day 80 years ago.

Whatever you think of the Russian leadership right now their parade tomorrow will be spectacular. As a small anecdote, I got kicked out of Moscow two days before the parade in 2005 to free up my hotel room for visiting dignitaries. I did get to see the rehearsals live before that. Wow, it was impressive.

Moving on. Not long now before the Lions squad is announced. It is a racing certainty that Maro Itoje will be announced as captain. The papers are stating that categorically. What the rest of the squad will be is a mystery. My views on that later today or tomorrow morning.

My good friend Colin pointed me in the direction of The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast. I’m not a podcast type of person. A very short attention span!! The topic: the Championship v Premiership and how it compares with French rugby. In essence it was about how England can turn the Championship into the equivalent of the ProD2 in France. The key thrust was the lack of promotion and relegation, ‘jeopardy’ as it was called in the podcast. The idea of franchising was not pilloried but was felt to be missing the point. In essence without any hope of the Championship sides getting access to the promised land, franchising or otherwise, nothing will change. There are myriad reasons why comparing England with France is floored. The cost base, ground ownership, tax breaks, the importance, or lack of it, of soccer, and so I could go on. You have to say looking at the Championship, with the exception of Ealing Trailfinders, who could compete, on and off the field? Then there is the infrastructure. Go onto Google maps and find Ampthill RFC or Chinnor RFC, both in the Championship, and look at their facilities. Then Google CRFC and look at ours. Those are not grounds suitable for Premiership rugby. Even Ealing’s setup is not comparable with anything in the Premiership. Then by comparison look at Brive’s setup. They’re in ProD2. There is no comparison!! Sorry, but with all the Premiership clubs up to their necks in debt why would anyone want to aspire to the Premiership. I think ring-fencing is the only way forward or we will see the rise and fall, and fall a la London Welsh. That makes no sense.

Ok that’ll do for now.

Except to have a whinge. The amount of money we are wasting on illegal immigrants is a disgrace. Billions of pounds A DAY!!! Money that could be spent on care of the elderly, some of whom will have been celebrating the end of the war 80 years ago.

Then, we have done a deal with India. A great deal Sir U-Turn calls it. A deal that disadvantages British companies and British workers in favour of Indian companies and workers. As Mighty Oak Andy says, don’t always believe what is in the papers, but this seems the economics of a Government that despises this country of ours, and not a Government that promised ‘change for the better’.

Finally white smoke will billow over Steel Cross as our good friend Eddie has his weekly fix of fire. Oh, how he loves the Friday Club bonfire!!!!

Tuesday 6th May: 09:25

Just a very short missive this morning. Caelan Doris opens the door for Taulupe Faletau. What? It is looking increasingly likely that Doris will be ruled out of the Lions tour. He now has to have an operation on his shoulder and the implications of the procedure won’t be known until that has happened. The inference here is they don’t exactly know the problem. If he is ruled out then I would expect Maro Itoje to be named as captain, and someone like Faletau to make the cut. That said, Ben Earl and Tom Curry are strong contenders.

That I’m afraid is the extent of the rugby news today…………

Except to say BBC Sussex News have a great story about Manjinder Nagra. She is a Sikh who has played for England, coaches at Hove, is a valued member of the Sussex Rugby Discipline Team, and is a panel member for the RFU. Yes, I know Manj very well, and pleased her exploits in our game are being recognised.

Plenty in the news about the Government now in panic mode, as early unity has gone out of the window following Reform UK’s recent success.

The papal conclave is about to start. The The Torygraph have good piece on the rituals. We watched the film last night and it was fascinating. Yes, it was a dramatisation but I bet the machinations that go on on behind closed doors are not far from what was depicted.

Ok, no blog tomorrow. A very busy morning. Back on Thursday morning with any snippets and then later a review of the Lions squad.

Monday 5th May: 09:50

It seems somewhat ironic that I was able to watch both the all French semi-finals for free yesterday afternoon. With the weather being a tad on the chilly side, and wishing to avoid any Bank Holiday weekend madness, it made sense.

Lyons v Racing was a bit turgid in the first half. Way too much kicking, and pretty error strewn. The second half was better with Lyon running out worthy winners. Owen Farrell left the field early with concussion, and there is still much chat about him being on the Lions on tour. Nepotism at its worst if it were to happen. They now face Bath in Cardiff on Friday May 23rd.

The second game between Bordeaux and Toulouse was a much better contest with some cracking tries to enjoy. Many expected a Toulouse win but it wasn’t to be with the amazing Louis - Bielle-Biarrey putting in a world class performance. Toulouse were out-thought and out-muscled for long periods, shipping five tries in the process. One big blow suffered by Bordeaux was the loss of Damien Penaud. He had to be helped from the field with what looks a serious injury. He is sure to miss the final, and possibly the rest of the French season. Bordeaux now go on to face Northampton in the final on May 24th. Saints will have their hands full, especially as I suspect Saints ‘final’ was Saturday when they beat Leinster.

How did I manage to watch these game. TV5 Monde app on the iPad. Couldn’t get the game to cast but hey, I watched them both live.

All attention now turns towards the Lions squad announcement on Thursday. Despite Ireland not being at their best during the Six Nations I think, perhaps fear, the squad will be Ireland heavy. There is a strong case for the entire Scottish backline to be selected. As mentioned previously there is an argument for no Welsh to be selected. I suspect Caelan Doris will be announced as captain. My choice would be Maro Itoje. The big Englishman is more likely to make every test. We’ll know on Thursday so watch out for my take on the selection late on Thursday or Friday morning.

By the way, the only Welsh players in with a shout of selection are Jac Morgan, Tomos Williams, Nicky Smith, Dewi Lake with Taulupe Falateu a real outlier.

Not a great deal else in the rugby pages to mull over I’m afraid.

In other sport, it stayed dry in Miami so the Sceletrix became somewhat turgid. The highlight was the Lewis Hamilton spat with his team over the radio. At one point Hamilton was told to let his teammate, Charles Leclerc, pass. His race engineer then came on the radio to say Carlos Sainz in the Williams was ‘just 1.4 seconds behind him’. Hamilton’s priceless retort was ‘so, do you want me to let him pass too!’

The soccer grinds relentlessly on.

The IPL was thoroughly entertaining, according to Mrs Bleater. I was watching the rugby.

The proper news is dominated by the foiled terror plot, allegedly masterminded by the Iranian state.

The Torygraph brings us the news there is no special relationship with the US as we incur higher tariffs than most other countries.

Plenty across the papers about this weeks VE Day celebrations.

Back tomorrow, IF I can find anything of note to ‘bleat’ on about.

Sunday 4th May: 09:00

The CRFC Walking Rugby crew turned up at Burgess Hill on Friday and had a thoroughly enjoyable time of it. Not sure of any of the results but I do understand ‘Dobby’ fell over a lot in search of sympathy, and James actually got his legs out, and very white they were too. Well done to all took part.

I should have been writing about Crowborough’s game at Weybridge Vandals this morning but it wasn’t to be. Had a long chat with our DoR on Friday morning and was reassured the club did everything to get a side out but it wasn’t possible for all the reasons I wrote about on Thursday.

It all felt a bit rudderless yesterday, what with no CRFC rugby to enjoy, and the two big games on TV not accessible to me. I did watch two Super Rugby games before being dragged into the garden by Mrs Bleater to help with the weeding, planting, replanting and a bit of screwing. Woah, you dirty minded lot. Put a few screws in the fence where the netting covers our strawberries, and another plank on the potato box. Both the potatoes and strawberries are coming along very nicely thank you very much.

I listened to Edinburgh v Bath on the wireless. A miracle of modern technology that wireless thing. It sounded a pretty good contest with Bath making hard work of the first half, but taking control in the second, particularly the last quarter.

I kept up to date with the Ireland v Saints game whilst watching the F1 sprint. Oh how European Rugby have missed a trick by selling the rights to a minority pay-per-view channel. From what I have read this morning Saints shocked Ireland with a storming first half and hung on for a brilliant win in the second. It sounds an amazing contest, a view supported by my good friend Damper who did shell out for Premier Sports.

The other two, all French, semi-finals are today. The Lyon v Racing game might be available via the TV5 Monde app. I stress it ‘might be available’. I’ll know at 12:15 when the programme is scheduled to start.

The build up to the Lions squad announcement lies ahead. Thursday is when we’ll know what is what. On Friday Ken, who is a fount of all knowledge relating to Welsh Rugby, believes just three players will make the tour, but also, like me, thinks that no Welsh players could make the trip. There will be uproar if no Welsh players go but Owen Farrell is selected!!!!!!

Good debate at Friday Club about the potential scrapping of the RFU Council. Yes, dinosaurs roaming the corridors of power can’t be good for the game, and an advisory body makes sense. However, as was pointed out, the RFU needs to be careful that it doesn’t lose wise old heads who do understand the game, and do know how to apply ‘checks and balances’ to decisions. There have to be those ‘checks and balances’ otherwise we enter the realms of dictatorship.

In other sport Leicester City won, Yes, yes, it was against Southampton who have been even more woeful than the Mighty Foxes. The F1 sprint race was entertaining. A rain sodden track saw plenty of cars in the wall, and the usually perfect Max Verstappen nearly totalling a Mercedes in the pit lane. Lets hope for rain today so the main event is more than a Scaletrix procession.

Whilst the horrors in Ukraine and the Middle East continue there are two stories dominating the news. Prince Harry and his spoilt brat whinging is one. Yawn. Let’s move on. The other is the stunning rise of Reform. No matter what you think about the odious Nigel Farage he has struck a chord with the electorate. The swing from both Labour and the Conservatives was remarkable. It does hinge on one thing sadly; immigration. Immigration is good for this country. Vital services would collapse if we didn’t have immigration. The issue is illegal immigration and the money being sucked out of the pockets of hardworking tax payers to house and support people who should have been deported on arrival. I haven’t mentioned the crime: drugs, money laundering, people trafficking. Yes, that is why Farage and is mob did so well.

Back tomorrow with a few words.

Thursday 1st May: 08:30

After much debate, and counting the walking wounded, it became clear we would not have enough players to fulfil the Papa Johns fixture against Weybridge Vandals. It has been a long hard season with the boys finishing in a VERY creditable 4th in the league, AND winning the Bob Rogers Cup last Saturday. We were already struggling in key positions, and with the injuries picked up on the weekend, and the unavailability due to Bank Holiday commitments it was impossible to put a side together that would be able to compete safely with the Vandals. I know from my communication with Graysey it was a very difficult decision as there was a good chance, with a full side, we could have gone all the way. Rest assured this decision was not taken lightly.

Good luck to all the sides who remain in the tournament and hope they make it all the way to Bristol (Dings Crusaders), or Twickenham, or wherever their regional final is.

The BIG rugby story this morning is the recommendation to abolish the RFU council. This is the 63 members from around the country who represent the game at large. In essence each constituent body, in our case Sussex, has a representative at council. It is an archaic system, remember Will Carlings 57 ‘old farts’, going back eons. I know in many quarters there will be uproar about the proposal, but to be fair the council has been an anchor holding things back, and a debating body that slows decision making. Inevitably, with so many vested interests involved, decisions spiral rapidly towards the lowest common denominator rather than focussing on the bigger picture. The shake up would see a much smaller advisory body in place. As long as the grassroots game is still an important part of the big picture decision making then I’m happy to be open-minded about the changes. That is reinforced if some of the responsibility for the grassroots game is devolved to regional bodies. What I fear however this will inevitably be all about money and that means the focus will be on the top of the game with grassroots losing out elsewhere.

If you were at Steel Cross on Saturday you would have said the game is in good shape. Six sides, three excellent contests, a good following, a very well run day by willing volunteers. However, that papers over a much gloomier picture. The exposure of the game is poor. Top flight rugby’s TV coverage is split across too many providers, each demanding their pound of flesh to view. Press coverage is minimal, even when like this weekend we are at the semi-final stage of the prestigious European Cups. At lower levels the league structure is complicated with excessive travel, and in our case, the absence of regular local derbies. The product on offer has improved of late but compared to soccer, and even rugby league, rugby union is complicated and all too often stop start. Then we get into governance. Clubs below the Championship paying players makes no sense, in my opinion. The season is disjointed at the top of the game and disrupts the flow at the bottom of the game, and so I could go on. In summary the game needs shaking up, so abolishing the council and its associated costs for a smaller, nimbler, more decisive body with the very best interests of the whole game at heart can’t be a bad thing. Debate.

My final word on this is for those who hanker after keeping the current structure, look at Wales. It is the dinosaurs in their equivalent of council that have held the game back, and look where it is now, on its knees.

Steve Borthwick adds Lee Blackett and Byron McGuigan to his coaching team for the tour of Argentina.

When you trawl through the papers to find stuff to bleat on about you sometimes spot something to bring back memories. Tonight in the WRU Championship Talywain host Bedwas. In my day I played against both those sides. Brutal encounters they were too.

Plenty of other sport this weekend, including the IPL, the Miami Scaletrix, loads of football.

In the proper news US and Ukraine sign a mineral deal that might just cause the nut job in the Kremlin to rethink his position.

Local elections today. We have been denied a vote as they debate unifying East and West Sussex councils into a single authority. I have no objection to that if it saves money and makes better decisions for the region. What I do object to is losing out on the opportunity to vote against the Government. Their first period of power has been shambolic.

Back on Sunday.