Hard work is the key, says Mumm
Aussie international Dean Mumm says Exeter Chiefs must continue to keep working hard in their bid to rediscover their winning touch in the Aviva Premiership.
Sunday's 23-10 loss at Saracens not only gave Rob Baxter's side an unwanted hat-trick of losses against the division's top three in as many weeks, but also condemned the Chiefs to a seventh league loss in eight starts.
With London Irish next on the agenda at Sandy Park this Saturday (3pm), Mumm is hoping a return to home comforts will help re-ignite the Chiefs after a testing few weeks.
"There are positives to take from today," he said. "I don’t think we are playing horribly. We are taking steps and I think we are a better side than we were this time last year, but the frustrating thing is that we are repeating mistakes. We have just got to deal with that in the first day or two of the new week and just move on and get in and attack next week.
“That is a real emphasis for us, to review what we are doing, to drive us forward so we can get the results we want to get.
"We know London Irish are playing very well at the moment, but they are coming to our home ground, and we should expect to win every game there, and that’s no different going into Saturday."
And as skipper of the club, Mumm says he feels an extra responsibility to help pull the players together in difficult times.
“There is a certain reality that when you lose close matches and some of it is in relation to decision-making, that comes down to the leadership of the group,” he said. “We have been talking about the fact that everyone has got to be accountable for what they are doing.
“That doesn’t change for me in any sense at all, where it is me as a player or in a leadership capacity, and that is something I will look at in the next couple of days.”
Currently nine points adrift of the Premiership's top six, the Chiefs need no reminding of the importance of Saturday's visit which, according to Baxter in the aftermath of their latest game at Allianz Park, is now a "must-win".
Mumm summed up the disappointment in the Exeter camp post-match, but again highlighted the fact that he and his team-mates were again dogged by self-inflicted errors within their game.
“Allianz Park is a hard place to go, but this is a Saracens team who are probably a little bit down in terms of numbers of players at the moment” said Mumm.
“There was a real opportunity to get stuck into them, and if you look at the first 40 minutes, it was a pretty good effort from us, but again the reality of playing these top teams is that it is not about 40 minutes, it is about 80, and there were times where again we made errors that enabled them to get into our half.
“When you have got the wind, you have got to try and keep a team in their half and make it really hard for them, and we probably didn’t do that.
“We gave away penalties, and back-to-back errors, which just allowed them to get up the field, and a good team take their opportunities, and they did that.
“You can afford to make two or three errors, but you can’t afford to make six or seven, and that is the difference essentially.
“No-one is asking for, or expects, a perfect performance, but there are key elements you have really got to nail, and that’s what we have got to do. We have got to keep working at the detail and keep driving up standards in training, so that the detail is there and it becomes almost a habit, rather than an effort.”
Pictures: Exeter Rugby Club
