Gareth Steenson (born 5 April 1984) is an Irish former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. He played as a

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

Playing career

Early years

Steenson, who is from Ulster, did not get opportunities with his home province with

Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won ...

in part because Ireland international David Humphreys was the starting flyhalf. Steenson left Ireland to play for the Rotherham Titans.

Exeter

Steenson played a massive part in the final leg of the 2009–10 Championship final against

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, scoring 24 points and helping

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

win 29–10 (38–16 including the first leg). Steenson burst into the scene in England at his previous club,

Cornish Pirates The Cornish Pirates () are a professional rugby union team who play in the RFU Championship, Championship, the second level of the English rugby union pyramid, and are the premier Cornish rugby club. The Cornish Pirates team are the 'First XV' o ...

, scoring 264 points in his first season (30 games). Steenson narrowly missed out on the golden boot by one point to Premiership rival

Freddie Burns Freddie Spencer Burns (born 13 May 1990) is an English professional rugby union player who plays fly-half for Super Rugby side . Burns played over 100 times for Gloucester between 2007 and 2014, and over 100 times for Leicester Tigers across tw ...

at the 2012–13 Premiership awards. He won the golden boot in the 2016 Premiership awards. Steenson also helped

reach the 2016

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

final. The following year he started the final and scored two conversions and three penalties, including the winning points, as Exeter Chiefs defeated

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

to be crowned champions of the 2016-17 English Premiership.

International

Steenson played for the Ireland under-19 team and the under-21 team.

Retirement

Steenson joined Plymouth Albion's coaching team ahead of the 2019–20 season as an assistant coach, focusing on their attack. The role initially saw him remain an Exeter player, but he retired from playing at the conclusion of the 2019–20 season. He was nominated for the Freedom of the City of

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

, and his nomination was unanimously approved by the

Exeter City Council Exeter City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the city of Exeter in Devon, England. Exeter has had a city council since medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974 it has been a non-met ...

on 15 December 2020. The Honour was formally presented to him in a ceremony at the

Exeter Guildhall Exeter Guildhall on the High Street of Exeter, Devon, England has been the centre of civic government for the city for at least 600 years. Much of the fabric of the building is medieval, though the elaborate frontage was added in the 1590s ...

on 7 October 2021.

Honours

Exeter Chiefs

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

**Winner (1): ( 2009–10) * English Premiership **Winner (2): ( 2016–17, 2019–20) *

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pr ...

**Winner (1): ( 2019–20)

Outside rugby

, Steenson is planning to open an

Irish bar The Bar of Ireland () is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Bar of Ireland, commonly c ...

named The Stand-Off in the centre of

with fellow rugby footballer Carl Rimmer.

References

External links

Exeter Player Profile
*
Premiership Rugby Profile
1984 births Living people People educated at The Royal School, Armagh Sportspeople from Dungannon Irish rugby union players Dungannon RFC players Rotherham Titans players Cornish Pirates players Exeter Chiefs players Irish expatriate rugby union players in England Rugby union fly-halves {{Ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub