Gareth’s golden boot sets Exeter on their way

Brendan Gallagher delves into some of rugby’s most enduring images, their story and why they are still so impactful

What’s happening here?

It’s the evening of May 26, 2010 at the old Memorial Ground, Bristol and a relatively unknown fly-half from Belfast, Gareth Steenson, is being raised high by his scrum-half Hadyn Thomas. Exeter Chiefs, hitherto worthy but largely unheralded stalwarts of National One, had earned promotion to the Premiership with a 29-10 win over Bristol. On a beautiful still early summer’s evening Steenson had been on deadly form with the boot, kicking 24 points including two dropped goals, in the Chiefs’ convincing win which saw them take the two legged play-off 38-16.

What’s the story behind the picture?

A week earlier we had all trooped down to Sandy Park and, initially, been rather underwhelmed by Exeter’s workmanlike 9-6 win over Bristol. Now, these two-legged playoffs were strange and rather unpredictable occasions – we miss them badly– but the general consensus was that a three point lead was probably not quite enough of an advantage to take to Bristol seven days later.

Exeter coach Rob Baxter, however, was totally relaxed when we spoke afterwards, an enviable approach to sport and life in general which has never deserted him. His argument was effectively that it was only halftime, they had their noses in front and had learned a stack about their opponents over the last 80 minutes.

The last claim was undoubtedly true. As he spoke Baxter pointed to six vantage points around the ground where the club had filmed the game from different angles and mentioned that his backroom staff would be working through the night to edit the footage so Baxter could go through it with his squad when they were called in for some rehab and a meeting the following afternoon. Bristol’s lineout calls would be broken down, their defensive and attacking formations and all their various restart options analysed.

That might sound fairly routine now but this was ten years ago in the Championship where few games were televised and there wasn’t a whole load of match footage available. Exeter, to use a cycling term of the time, were looking for marginal gains everywhere they could.

No stone was to be unturned, largely because they felt time was running out on them. Exeter had earned promotion to the Championship in 2000 and had been ultra competitive throughout that period but missed out on the ultimate prize of promotion. Meanwhile the big clubs above them in the Premiership were getting bigger and the gap between the leagues seemingly growing. It felt like now or never.

What happened next?

One of the biggest success stories in English rugby history on and off the field although their progress has been steady and measured and possibly all the better for that.

The next time I saw them was at Leicester Tigers in their second game in the Premiership where they shook the hosts with three classy first half tries before eventually going down 37-27.

They were ball park from the off but, as with promotion, Exeter had to work their way towards the ultimate prizes with the Premiership title finally coming in 2017. After a few seasons finding their feet in Europe – they learned a huge amount in back to back defeats against Leinster in the 2017-18 competition – they eventually landed the biggest prize in European Rugby last weekend.

Why is the picture iconic?

There are at least three things going

on here which make this picture special. First there is that moment of supreme joy all sportsmen feel when they achieve a set target, especially when reaching that goal has taken a while and there has been some disappointments and near misses en route. Even that season Exeter had actually finished only second to Bristol in the regular season and, taking the risk of resting key players, they also lost play-off pool games against London Welsh and Nottingham although four victories saw them comfortably through to the semi-final where they outclassed Bedford.

But there is another personal element in play for Steenson. The Ulsterman was something of a star in his early years – he kept Johnny Sexton out of the Ireland U21 team – but his career didn’t quite kick on as he had hoped. There were worthy stints with Rotherham and Cornish Pirates but then in 2008 Exeter and their coach Peter Drewett signed him up realising that his world class goalkicking could be the key if ever the Chiefs were to gain promotion.

And then there is the poignancy of the long lens of history looking back at a still youthful looking Steenson ten years ago. Rather than a destination this match was actually a departure point, it was only the beginning of the real journey. For him and Exeter, there were still ten brilliant seasons that lay ahead. Over 2,500 points in 290 games for the Chiefs, European and Premiership titles and cult status in his adopted English home from home.

Footnote: In early January 2010, nearly five months before this picture, Baxter signed contract extensions for his entire squad. Whether they won promotion to the Premiership or not this group would go in to battle together the following season. It’s touches like that which have been the making of Exeter.

“Rather than a destination, this match was actually a departure point, the beginning of the real journey”