Mumm targets Euro spot

 

Exeter lock Dean Mumm admits that he and the Exeter Chiefs are peaking at just the right time as the race for the top six in the Aviva Premiership goes down to the wire.

The 29-year-old Australian international signed for the Chiefs this season and has been a key part of his side's fine current form that have seen them win six of their last seven in the league.

That fine run has them currently sitting in sixth, the final Heineken Cup position, with one last game to come, when the Chiefs will welcome Gloucester Rugby to Sandy Park.

The Chiefs season can be split into three parts with a fine start and finish glossing over an indifferent Christmas period that cost them a shot at the play-off places.

But with sixth place in their hands and with their main rivals Bath Rugby having to head to Saracens on the final weekend Mumm is confident that Rob Baxter's side can seal a repeat of Heineken Cup rugby on the South West Coast.

"It's a nice position to be in, not relying on other results. It would have been nice if Bath perhaps didn't have a win on the weekend but so be it," said the former Waratah. "The thing is that we've managed to win the games and keep everything in our own hands which is important and gives you a little bit of confidence.

"A good start and finish and a little bit soft in the middle is probably a reasonable way to put it. We started strongly and got some wins against Quins and Sarries early at home and we've been quite strong at home all year. We might have been a little bit soft in the winter months but we are finishing strongly with a few wins on the trot.

"I think Exeter is a pretty ambitious club. Realistically they might not have thought they would be playing Heineken Cup this year but certainly they would have had plans for next season and re-qualifying this year would determine a good year. Devon and Exeter are not particularly big places to have the pinnacle of European rugby come there on three occasions and it is a big deal for the local people so it would be a good achievement."

The Chiefs first season of Heineken Cup rugby may on paper look like something of a disappointment as they failed to make it out of their Pool.

But in a pool that included Leinster and Clermont Auvergne, the holders and the bookies' favourites respectively, that does not tell the whole truth.

Two wins over the Scarlets and a narrow defeat to Leinster proved they deserved to be at Europe's top table and Mumm is confident they can prove themselves all over again next season.

"I don't think the Heineken Cup came too early for Exeter, you've got to do well enough to get there in the first place," he added. "The quality of the Aviva Premiership means that you've got to play well for the entire season in order to qualify for the Heineken Cup.

"The guys deserved it for what they did last year and hopefully we are good enough to get another opportunity. I don't think it came too early, maybe before people expected but you have to take your opportunities when they are there."