Title triumph for Steenson

By Mark Stevens
28/5/17

Exeter Chiefs matchwinner Gareth Steenson revealed he said to a prayer to his father before lining up the kick to win the Aviva Premiership title.

Steenson’s 97th-minute penalty finally separated Exeter and Wasps in an enthralling final at Twickenham, with the Chiefs winning 23-20 to grab their first title.

With the club since their promotion to the Premiership back in 2010, Steenson remembered back to those moments when they club joined the top flight for the first time.

“The kicks in the Championship final were pretty big as well. I said a prayer to my old man upstairs and he helped me with the last one,” Steenson revealed.

“When we first got promoted, it was hard to gauge what it would be like to be in days like today. After the final last year, we had a taste for it.

“Thankfully before Christmas we sat down and said to ourselves we needed to get a grip if we wanted to get back to that level and we got ourselves together.

“We were patting ourselves on the back in pre-season at how well we did, and I think we rolled into the season. We did sit down after Clermont after a hiding at home and said this season is going to peter out for us if we don’t get ourselves together.

“We had a few harsh words and we grafted it out. We didn’t change anything drastically but we got ourselves into a good run of form.”

Asked why Exeter had been so successful in such a short space of time, Steenson stressed the importance of the club’s culture and the additions of players who had won silverware elsewhere over the years.

“It’s the fight. It’s always been there. The culture of the club, the guys that got us promoted seven years ago and we’ve added quality in the squad. We’ve only got better,” Steenson said.

“There’s guys who’ve been through it all and we’ve added bits of quality to it. We’ve got guys like Parling and Waldrom who are proven winners and they’ve won in this environment before. We’ve got ourselves in that place now and it’s a great feeling.

“The vision was there, and it was a place that was going to go forward, it was just a question of when.

“We installed some values in the club in the Championship and I bought into that. It went from there and thankfully we’re sitting here for days like today.”