Steeno insists lessons will be learnt
By Mark Stevens
22/10/18
Gareth Steenson insists ‘lessons will be learnt’ in the aftermath of Exeter’s 29-25 defeat to Castres in Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup clash.
The Chiefs slipped to their first loss of the season at the Stade Pierre Fabre, a result that now leaves the Gallagher Premiership side bottom of Pool Two after two games.
However, Rob Baxter’s side are far from finished in Europe’s top cup competition – they trail Pool 2 leaders Munster by just four points – and with four games left for qualification, Steenson says he and his team-mates know what will be expected of them.
“We’re still very much in the competition,” said the Irishman post-game. “There are four games to go, 20 points to be won, so in a way it’s kind of made things a lot simpler for us.
“Yes, we’re bitterly disappointed to have lost this game, especially given the start we had to the game, but now we know we have to go and win these last four games to give ourselves any kind of chance to qualify.”
In what was a first-ever meeting between the Chiefs and reigning French champions Castres, it was the visitors who came out of the traps flying. Early tries from Santiago Cordero and Matt Kvesic, both of which Steenson converted, gave the Devonians a dream start as they led 14-0 in as many minutes.
However, Castres hit back strongly with a converted try from centre Florian Vialelle and the boot of fly-half Julien Dumora to lead 19-14, before they were reduced to 14 men with the dismissal of No.8 Maama Vaipulu for a shoulder high hit on Exeter hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie.
It didn’t take long for the Chiefs to make their numerical advantage pay, Steenson claiming his side’s third try on the stroke of half time when he charged down a kick from Yohan Le Bourhis, before winning the subsequent sprint race to the try-line.
At 19-all at the break, Steenson admitted the Chiefs could not have been bettered place to attack the second period and claim what would have been a notable away-day scalp.
“We felt good at half-time,” added the 34-year-old. “We had talked about getting a fast start, which we did, but then we tailed off and let them back into the game.
“Going into the second half, we targeted another fast start, but this time we didn’t get it and we just undid ourselves by making error after effort, which was pretty disappointing.
“They really targeted the breakdown, they made it hard for us there, and we couldn’t quite get our game going. Had we managed to go one or two more phases at times, who knows we may have been able to open them up a bit more.
“Fair play to them, they got over the ball well, they were hard men to move, and they got their rewards for it. Although, if we’re honest, some of our mistakes today really hurt us and that is something we have to learn from moving forward.”
With Europe now taking a back seat until December when the Chiefs face Premiership rivals Gloucester on successive weekends, Steenson hopes that the upcoming weeks will allow the players to not only reflect on this loss, but also recharge their batteries.
“As I said, we’re all bitterly disappointed with the end result,” he added. “We had chances again today – even right at the end – to have potentially won the game, but we didn’t and we have to move on quickly. I’ve no doubt that lessons will be learnt from these past two weeks – and hopefully we will be a better side for it all moving forward.”