Big Dean Mumm needed no convincing when Robbie Deans asked him how he’d feel about captaining the Wallabies in their mid-week tour match against English Premiership outfit Gloucester on Wednesday.
“I said ‘bloody oath I would’. It was pretty exciting,” Mumm told AAP before Australia’s touring “Possums” departed London for the six-hour round trip to the south-west of England for the wintry night-time fixture.
“Leading the Wallabies at any stage is a massive honour and that’s what I’ll take away.
“You look at some of the guys who have done it before and it’s quite inspiring. So to be given an honour like that, it means a lot.”
Mumm, who will partner Sydney University’s tour bolter David Dennis in the second row, will lead a team of six Wallabies debutants in total.
Along with Dennis, fullback Kurtley Beale, centre Tyrone Smith, flanker Mitchell Chapman, prop Salesi Ma’afu and reserve halves Matt Toomua and Richard Kingi will don the gold Australian jumper for the first time.
Mumm, 25, says he’ll apply a simple approach to the captaincy.
“Obviously there’s a lot of new guys to the environment so it’s all about having a good show and not worrying if things go wrong,” the NSW Waratahs utility said.
“It’s just pulling it together and then we keep going forward. I don’t think it’s rocket science or anything.
“It’s just making sure the team stays composed to its maximum and then just going from there.
“Obviously it’s a very important game for us and it’s significant for us to get a win going forward.”
Coach Deans says the match will provide priceless experience to his emerging stars and also give his fringe Wallabies a chance to stake their claims for Test spots.
“We’re very much looking forward to it,” Deans says.
“It’s great for the whole group to have rugby, which is unusual these days, so it’s kept the boys connected in the preparation and we’ve also got another opportunity at the far end of the tour against the Cardiff Blues.
“So it’s great from our perspective. It’s good insofar as they get rugby and there’s also the development opportunity that they get.
“It will be an education. We’ve got no doubt about that for some of these blokes playing in Gloucester.
“They’re not really club sides anymore over here, as they were more in our playing generation.
“I think Gloucester have something like 24 internationals in their squad so it will be a fair workout and it’ll be great.
“It’s likely to be bucketing down and we’ll all be better for it.”
Mumm, who was on the bench for Australia’s tour-opening 32-19 loss to New Zealand in Tokyo on Saturday night, knows the Gloucester game is an opportunity to push for a Wallabies starting berth.
“If I can do a good job at it tomorrow night, it’s certainly going to be a good thing rather than a bad thing,” he said.
“Whether it impacts – obviously you’ve got to be doing your job around the field as well – but certainly my aim is to do it well to put my hand up to get a start.”
The match was to kick off at 7am Wednesday (AEDT).
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