Mumm hails Chiefs' victory

By Nick Warren

Skipper Dean Mumm hailed the excellent start Exeter Chiefs made as they blew Cardiff Blues away 44-29 in their opening Heineken Cup game.

The Australian international felt the opening period was possibly the best from his side since he joined 13 months ago.

That saw them race 36-3 ahead – with five tries – before they went off the boil in the second period, not helped by two yellow cards.

And Chiefs captain Mumm said it was a great way to start their Pool Two campaign, as they matched defending champions Toulon in taking maximum points.

Mumm said: “That’s one of the best halves we’ve played – sustained pressure, sustained attack and we managed to keep the ball for long periods of time.

“It was again a game of two halves. I thought we started the second half reasonably well – we had good defence, we got our sixth try – but perhaps we took our foot off the gas a bit.

“We started kicking the ball away as well, and when you have (Leigh) Halfpenny and (Alex) Cuthbert back there they’re not people you want to kick the ball to.

“Also, 13 versus 15 is not a great way to play the game and that really hurt us, we lost momentum and it was disappointing to give them a bonus point, but five points against one is a great way to start the Heineken Cup.”

Mumm scored one of his side’s six tries, with Tom Johnson, Matt Jess, Ben White, Fetu’u Vainikolo and Ian Whitten crossing for the others. Fly-half Gareth Steenson also booted 11 points with four conversions and a penalty, with Henry Slade kicking a late penalty to keep Exeter comfortably ahead.

The tries came as a result of some outstanding attacking play from the Chiefs as they looked to run the ball from all over the pitch.
Mumm said they were keen to take advantage of any opportunities to make a break that came their way, regardless of where that was on the field.

“We talk about taking opportunities if they were there,” he said. “It’s not a clear policy to run out of our 22 but if there’s an option there then we’ve got the licence to take it.

“Our outside backs were excellent in the first half, they gained a lot of metres and that freed us up to go direct through the middle later on.”

Mumm and his team-mates will look to keep their good form going on Sunday when they travel to Scotland to face Glasgow Warriors in their second group game.

Having been beaten 51-28 by Toulon on Sunday, the Warriors will be looking to get back to the form that has seen them win all five of their games in the RaboDirect Pro12 this term.

Gregor Townsend’s men also beat the Chiefs in pre-season so Exeter’s players know exactly what they have to do to win next weekend – although they intend to savour their win against Cardiff for now.

“We worked very hard to get to the Heineken Cup, there’s no automatic qualification for us,” he said. “We’ve worked hard for two years to get here to have this opportunity and when you get an opportunity you’ve got to fire a few shots. We did that in the first half.

“Going to Glasgow this weekend, they’re a very good side defensively, very good at the breakdown and that’s where Cardiff gave us some trouble in the second half.

“They don’t have the big names that Cardiff do but they’re a unit that’s working very well at the moment. They came off a very good pre-season, beat us here, so we know they’re a very threatening side. We’ve got a lot of work to do analysing them but we’ll enjoy this win and deal with them on Tuesday.”