Steeno proud of team effort

By Mark Stevens
30/5/2016

In the end it wasn’t quite to be for Exeter Chiefs, but Gareth Steenson insists the club have plenty to proud of following a quite outstanding season.

Undone 28-20 in Saturday’s Aviva Premiership final by Saracens, the dreams of a first-ever top flight title will have to wait for Rob Baxter’s side a little longer.

Trailing 23-6 at the interval, the Devonians produced a rousing second half performance to haul themselves back into contention with just five minutes remaining.

Saracens, however, showed just why they have been the stand-out force, both domestically and in Europe this season, ending Exeter’s hopes with a late try from man of the match Alex Goode.

A disappointed Steenson admitted the loss was tough to take, but says he and his team-mates will be back for more come the start of next season.

“Right now we’re very disappointed, any loss in a final is always tough to take,” said the Exeter fly-half. “Probably in a few days time we’ll sit down and reflect on what has happened and what a great season it has been for the club.

“I suppose when you look back on it all and where we have come from, it’s been a great journey for us and one that we can all be very proud of.

“A lot of guys have put a huge amount of effort in through the course of the year, so it’s disappointing we couldn’t finish it right at the end there. That said, it’s all about the club moving forward and this is another step on the ladder. All we want to do is keep progressing and I’ve no doubt we will do that and hopefully we’ll be back here again next year.”

Experiences such as that of Saturday will prove invaluable for the club and Steenson insists lessons will be learnt in the wake of the whole big-match occasion.

“As Rob said, we probably missed out on 30 minutes of that game today,” continued the 32-year-old.  “Whether it was us trying to get up to speed or Saracens just playing very well, I’m not quite sure at this stage because the physicality was definitely there from the outset.

“Before we talked about putting the game plan into place, but Sarries ran the ball back at us well and they just squeezed us in that first half. We got more territory in the second half and that was when we showed how good a side we are.

“We clawed back 20 points and gave ourselves one hell of a chance, but in the end they showed their quality. I couldn’t have asked for any more from our guys, they put in a huge shift and in the end we’ve come up a wee bit short.

“I’ve no doubt we will be better again next season, but right now it’s a tough result to take.”

Steenson also paid tribute to the support given to his side throughout the competition, but particularly at Twickenham at the weekend.

"The atmosphere was incredible out there today," he added. "Coming into the stadium, you could feel the buzz and the whole place was going crazy with the 'Tomahawk Chop'. In the second half, when we got a bit of momentum, you could feed off the fans.

"As I said, we're disappointed not to have rewarded them, but every game this year they have been there in their numbers and I'm sure it will be the same again next season."