On this day three years ago, on a blazing hot afternoon at Twickenham in West London, Exeter Chiefs fly-half Gareth Steenson prepared to take one of the biggest kicks of his life.
After placing the ball on the tee, the Ulsterman uttered a small prayer to his late father, took his customary four-step run-up and struck the ball straight and true between the uprights.
In doing so, he propelled the Sandy Park club into the history books, helping the Chiefs to their first - and only - Premiership title.
A lot has happened since then; two further Premiership finals - both of which ended in defeat to Saracens - a salary cap scandal and, of course, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic which has seen the world seemingly grind to a halt and placed competitive sport very much on the backburner.
But for everyone who saw that final - whether it was from Twickenham's famous stands, one of the many crowded pubs throughout Exeter or ever just the comfort of their own sitting room - it was a day that the Chiefs reached the pinnacle of English rugby.
Rewind almost seven months and even a Premiership final felt a long way away, let alone actually lifting the trophy.
Rob Baxter's men were languishing in seventh place in the Premiership table and were bottom of their European Champions Cup pool after seven defeats and a draw from their opening 10 matches.
It was a poor start from a side which had entered the season on a wave of optimism following their battling loss to Saracens in their first ever Premiership final a few months earlier.
Little did they know that they had already reached a turning point.
Following a 35-8 battering at home to French giants Clermont Auvergne, Rob Baxter held an extraordinary team meeting during which he showed his players a snippet of an interview with American Football player Richard Sherman.
The Seattle Seahawks cornerback was discussing the anger and frustration at losing out in their first Superbowl final against the Atlanta Falcons - and their determination that it should never happen again.
Baxter felt the Chiefs had not processed their maiden Premiership defeat to Saracens in the same way, instead focusing on what a solid campaign they had enjoyed.
“I still remember that video clip because I showed it to the players at the start of the meeting,” said Baxter shortly after the final.
“I said ‘look guys, this looks like what has happened to us’. For whatever reason, we didn’t talk about how annoyed we should have been for losing that final – we never said that to each other.
“It wasn’t a fallout and it wasn’t confrontational, it was a chat. It wasn’t me shouting at them telling them it wasn’t good enough – it was an open meeting.
“We sat down and talked about it not being right and feeling right, rather than hiding behind statistics – we realised we weren’t being Exeter and we said so. We sat down and had a talk very openly and honestly.
“The mantra for the rest of the season after that meeting was ‘what are you going to do about it?’ That is what the players took on board – that they were going to do something to get back to the final and win it this time round.”
Playing the video and discussing those issues openly with the players galvanised, revitalised and re-energised the struggling Chiefs.
Performances improved dramatically - too late to salvage their European campaign but timely enough to earn them a semi-final spot against reigning champions Saracens, who had beaten them in the final a year earlier.
Sam Simmonds may have been the man to score the decisive try as the clock ticked into the red on a crazy afternoon at Sandy Park, but it was a game that will be forever remembered for Henry Slade's gigantic kick to touch which handed Exe a vital lineout and has become a part of Exeter rugby folklore.
It booked the Chiefs a final spot against Dai Young's rampaging, eye-catching cut-and-thrust Wasps side, who had finished equal on points with the Devon side in the regular Premiership campaign and had only topped the league table by virtue of winning more games.
The two sides had played out a thrilling 35-35 draw at Sandy Park earlier in the season, and the final also proved to be an emotional rollercoaster which required extra time to determine the winner.
In front of almost 80,000 fans and bathed in glorious sunshine, it was the Chiefs who struck first with a slick lineout routine straight from the training ground which allowed Jack Nowell to dive over in the corner. Steenson converted for a 7-0 lead.
It was soon cut by three points as Chiefs nemesis Jimmy Gopperth banged over a penalty, but another fine move saw Ollie Devoto break the Wasps line before unleashing a marauding Phil Dollman, who celebrated his call-up to the Welsh squad with a fine finish. Steenson again converted.
But it was that man Gopperth who again reined in the Chiefs, finishing off an excellent move with a try and a simple conversion to make it 14-10 at the break.
And Wasps carried that momentum into the second period, taking the lead with Elliot Daly's try following a fine break from Christian Wade and a cruel bounce over Olly Woodburn.
Gopperth converted that and booted another penalty to make it 20-14 on 53 minutes and, for all of Exeter's first-half brilliance, their dream was suddenly hanging by a thread.
A Steenson penalty cut the deficit but, in a supreme demonstration of the confidence, they turned down another easy three points to go for the corner in search of a try.
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It is a sight which has now become routine for many Chiefs fans but, with the clock ticking down in a Premiership final, to many it looked like a gamble.
The attack ultimately came to nought but it did not come back to haunt the Devonians as, with less than a minute left on the clock, Steenson drew the sides level with another penalty.
Extra time beckoned, but despite the Chiefs dominating for long spells, they struggled to make the breakthrough. Sam Simmonds saw a try not given by the TMO due to a lack of clear grounding, and a nail-biting final looked set to end with a place-kicking competition.
But with just a couple of minutes left, Exeter forced a scrum penalty as Tomas Francis got the better of Mutt Mullan, and up stepped Steenson to further cement his own legendary status at the club and write Exe into the history books.
“To be honest, I said a prayer to my old man upstairs and he helped me with the last one I think, so I am delighted that went over,” he said afterwards.
Exe still had two minutes to play, but they held onto the ball like limpets until the time was up. Italian centre Michele Campagnaro - of all people - collected the ball at scrum-half and fired it high into the Twickenham stands.
Exeter Chiefs were champions of England.
What followed were scenes that will remain in the club's history forever - a tearful Rob Baxter trying to gather his emotions, fireworks and confetti surrounding Jack Yeandle and Steenson as they lifted the trophy.
The fact that it came almost seven years to the day since they had won promotion to the Premiership with their dramatic victory over rivals Bristol simply made it all the more remarkable.
Time will tell when Exe will have the chance to add to that solitary Premiership victory. But even if they do, that first title in 2017 will always have a special place in the heart of all Chiefs fans.
