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

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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.