Leinster the ideal test as Exeter probe final frontier

Exeter Chiefs were a run-of-the-mill second-tier English side when Gareth Steenson arrived in 2008 and the Irish fly-half believes Leinster’s visit to Sandy Park will be the ultimate barometer of just how far the club has come since.

Cast adrift by Mark McCall at his native Ulster in 2006, Steenson spent time with Rotherham Titans and Cornish Pirates before being hailed by the Chiefs and he has been pivotal to one of professional rugby’s most remarkable rises in the years since.

Promoted to the Premiership in 2010, they claimed the title last season, 12 months after being denied in the final.