Contest for No.10 will help keep Chiefs at the top

Exeter hero Gareth Steenson has revealed he is fighting for a new contract just months after leading the Devon outfit to their greatest-ever achievement.
Steenson, 33, has been the playmaking heartbeat of Exeter’s astonishing rise since joining the club in 2008 from the Cornish Pirates.
He kicked the goals that won promotion from the Championship against Bristol in 2010, before repeating the trick in dramatic circumstances against Wasps at Twickenham to secure Exeter’s maiden Premiership title in May.
However, as he heads into a tenth season at Sandy Park after celebrating the start of his testimonial year yesterday with a match watched by 9,000, Dungannon-born Steenson explained why he is once again ready to face down England’s Henry Slade and 20-year-old academy starlet Joe Simmonds for the No.10 jersey as he seeks an extended stay.
Steenson told The Rugby Paper: “I’ve been very fortunate to still be going and I’m feeling pretty good. The last few years have been fantastic for me personally and I’ve really enjoyed it, but I’ve only got one season left and I’m not thinking of hanging up my boots.
“I’m ready to keep battling with Henry because if you’re expecting only one guy to be playing each weekend, you’re getting things wrong with your succession planning. You need to ensure people are pushing each other in training and I don’t think it will just be between myself and Henry either this season by any stretch of the imagination.
“Joe Simmonds will have something to say after impressing last year and he has looked really good in pre-season training, while we’ve got a couple of other young guys coming through as well. But these are the challenges you enjoy and while I might be one of the senior guys in the squad, that doesn’t mean I can’t improve my game.”
Yesterday’s match saw the Championship-winning side of 2010 reunite against the Classic Lions, enabling Steenson to reflect on how Exeter have evolved their game to the point where they are now the best team in England.
He explained: “If you watched the way Chiefs played in the Championship, it’s chalk and cheese with how we play now. We were very much a forward-orientated side back then and it was about putting the ball in the right areas of the pitch.
“We didn’t play an awful lot of rugby whereas now we’re very much a 15-man game. That’s the way the game has evolved, especially in the Premiership where you’re seeing a lot more teams that can put the ball through the hands and play.
“Everyone is attack-minded and wants to score tries so we’ve got to keep pushing ourselves forward now. We talk about development and we’re nowhere near the finished article, so that’s why we’ve worked hard over the last five weeks because the next step is to be a regular top four side and get a bit more out of the European Cup.”
With England head coach Eddie Jones ready to step down after the 2019 World Cup, Steenson insists the RFU should look no further than Rob Baxter, the man who has masterminded Exeter’s emergence, and his chief lieutenant Ali Hepher.
Despite the pair’s lack of international experience, Steenson argues: “They’ve developed as a coaching team, really adding to our game, and Rob got himself away with England in Argentina in 2013 while Ali headed up the Saxons last year, so getting that international recognition shows they and the club are heading the right way.
“They’ve sorted themselves new three-year deals at Chiefs so I’m sure they have unfinished business here, but if you look at their track record over eight or nine years and how they’ve progressed themselves, it would be great for England to look at them.
“I always think it’s nice when you look at teams across the world and their national coach is from that country, so while there are other good coaches in the Premiership who’d be in the reckoning to succeed Eddie Jones, Rob and Ali would have no problems stepping up to that level. They deserve that chance and I could think of no finer candidates.”
Success in Europe would strengthen those claims, although a Champions Cup ‘pool of death’ containing Leinster, Montpellier and Glasgow looks daunting.
However, Steenson added: “Europe’s the next big target now and because we’re champions of England we can’t just sit on our laurels and pat ourselves on the back. We did that a little bit at the start of last season and very quickly saw how things went pear-shaped.
“We want to be cementing ourselves as a top four Premiership team on a regular basis and getting into the knock-out stages in Europe as well. We made the Champions Cup quarter-finals two years ago and came close to a semi, so we’re keen to give it another shot.
“Hopefully, the confidence we’ll take from being Premiership champions will help us push forward in the Champions Cup.”
NEALE HARVEY