Mumm sets sights on LV= final

It may not have been pretty - at times it was downright ugly - but last Sunday's LV= Cup victory over Bath Rugby was all that mattered to Exeter Chiefs skipper Dean Mumm come the final whistle.

At the 12th attempt since their promotion into the top flight in 2010, Rob Baxter's side were finally able to overcome their Westcountry rivals in a competitive first-team fixture.

For Aussie international Mumm, the 22-19 win at The Recreation Ground not only ended the so-called 'Bath hoodoo' - but at the same time ensured the Chiefs advanced to this weekend's LV= Cup Final for the first time in the club's history.

Now, standing in the way of the Devon club from claiming the crown on their own Sandy Park turf will be Northampton Saints, who themselves advanced with an impressive 26-7 success at home to Saracens.

Mumm is well aware this Sunday's game offers the Chiefs a great opportunity of claiming some prestigious silverware, but he has warned he and his team-mates will need to brush up on certain parts of their game if they are to overcome a powerful Saints side.

“It wasn’t pretty again from us. In the set-piece, our scrums were OK but the line-out was pretty rubbish, to be honest,” said Mumm. “We also gave away a lot of penalties, myself included, and we gave them plenty of opportunities and we also missed eight points with the boot as well, so it could have been a much more impressive performance from our point of view.

“The good news, though, is we are going home to Sandy Park for the final of the LV= Cup on Sunday, and that is a great achievement, no matter how it comes.”

It was somewhat ironic that the Chiefs have played so much better against Bath in many of those 11 previous games and lost, yet eventually triumphed after not performing well in many areas.

“Set-piece wise, we have had really good games against Bath this season and lost, and the game where we don’t cope so well is the game we win,” added Mumm.

“Rugby is a bit like that sometimes, but our back three were particularly dangerous on the counter-attack, and the tries from Lukey [Luke Arscott] and Fets [Fetu’u Vainikolo] were really brilliant individual moments, and at the end of the day that was the difference.

“As things get a little bit drier and the pitches a little bit harder, we will start to see that a little bit more from us. We have got heaps of work to do to be right up there in the mix next weekend, but it is all there for us to take.”

Victory over Bath meant the Chiefs were able to not only follow up their Premiership win over London Irish with another triumph, but it has also given them the perfect confidence boost going into Sunday's showdown.

“Hoodoos are made to be broken,” continued Mumm. “To be honest, the pressure was on them to keep winning against us, and it’s nice to have finally ended that run and come out on the right side of the result."

The Chiefs will now face a Northampton side who won 17-16 at Sandy Park in the Premiership just over a month ago, and the Midlanders are likely to field a similar team to the one they did that day, without a host of stars who will be on Six Nations Championship duty at the weekend, including the likes of George North, Dylan Hartley, Lee Dickson, Tom Wood and Courtney Lawes.

“On the positive side for us, we didn’t lose by much on that occasion and again we didn’t play that well that day,” Mumm recalled. “There is a big opportunity for us [on Sunday], and I’m really excited about it.

“We don’t want this to be a one-off. We’ve got a lot more to do in terms of process, and if we can do that, we can do this more often, and that has got to be our focus and is the key to the club going forward. However, in terms of this week, we have got a couple of days to rest, and then we will lay a good foundation during the training week and attack next Sunday.”

The Exeter players celebrated after the game at Bath with the Chiefs’ supporters who made the trip up to the Recreation Ground, and Mumm knows they will have an important part to play during Sunday’s final.

“The travelling Tribe are always pretty good, and Sunday was a special moment for them, to get a win over Bath, and it was a real honour for us to be able to give that to them,” he said.

“I’m pretty sure the Tomahawk Chop will be strong on Sunday, and we’re really looking forward to their support,” he concluded.

Pictures: Exeter Rugby Club/Pinnacle Photo Agency