Milestone moment for Steenson

By Mark Stevens
4/10/16

Gareth Steenson joked he's not sure he has another 1,000 points left in him, despite kicking his way to another milestone in his Exeter Chiefs career.

Already top of the tree in terms of points scored for the Devon club, the Irish fly-half took his career tally past 2,000 with his 14-point haul during last Friday's Aviva Premiership clash at Northampton Saints.

Signed in the summer of 2009 from the Cornish Pirates, Steenson has played a pivotal role in helping the Chiefs become not only a proven force within the English game, but also on the European front as well.

Last season the 32-year-old enjoyed his best season yet in the top flight, finishing as the Premiership's Golden Boot winner, when he helped himself to 258 points.

Reflecting on his latest achievement, the Dungannon-born back said: "It is lovely to pass that milestone and hopefully I can get a few more – though I don’t know if there is another thousand points in me!

"We are obviously disappointed with the result and I‘d rather have that to enjoy over the weekend (than reaching the landmark)."

However, Steenson inists he would happily have swapped waiting for the milestone a bit longer to ensure he and his team collected four vital Premiership points.

Sadly, it was not to be as Harry Mallinder's penalty two minutes from time gave Northampton a 20-19 success and a first home win of the campaign for the Saints.

It capped a solid fightback from the Midlanders, who had trailed 13-0 inside 20 minutes after Olly Woodburn grabbed Exeter's opening try, which was converted by Steenson who also added two penalties.

Northampton, though, bounced back with converted tries of their own through George North and Rory Hutchinson, before Mallinder landed two second half penalties.

Steenson admitted the defeat was tough to take, particularly given their form in the opening quarter of the game at Franklin's Gardens.

"We were in a really good situation after 20 minutes. We didn’t exit very well a couple of times and the try straight from the kick-off was very disappointing for us and showed a lack of focus," added Steenson.

"We were in good shape and let them back in, but we wrestled back a little bit of momentum and control, and it was just a little disappointing at the end that we couldn’t finish the job.

"It is a problem we have had a lot of the years I have been at the club. We tend to get ourselves into really good positions and we are just not ruthless at times.

"We had a 13-point lead away from home, and that is a real opportunity to go after a team, but we let them back in, and that is a problem we need to address if we are going to move forward, but we have got a point away from home, we will take a lot of positives out of the game, but we can also go away and learn a lot of lessons."

Next up for the Chiefs is Saturday's home encounter with Gloucester at Sandy Park (3pm).