Dean Mumm hopes captaining Exeter Chiefs will be less painful than watching Australia's rugby and cricket teams Mumm did consider returning home - which is Australia, although he was born in New Zealand and is the grandson of the late All Black prop Bill Mumm - to watch some of the series. And tickets would hardly have been a problem as his father John sits on the board of the Australian Rugby Union. But it must have been a wrench to watch a series in which every Australian rugby union player dreams of taking part? "I wouldn't have been involved with the Test matches anyway," admits the 29-year-old, whose last Test was as a replacement at Twickenham in 2010 when England won 35-18. I would have loved to have played for the [New South Wales] Waratahs against the Lions. But I pretty much knew I was giving up that when I came here. I knew that was a consequence of my decision, and I have no regrets about that. And the 2-1 series result? "If you had asked me before I would have probably said the Lions were favourites and that it would go to three games," he says. It was probably what I thought, but you never put down an Australian side. Overall, though, the tour was wonderful. It showed the power of the Lions and the brand associated with it. Rugby union is not always the No1 game in Australia, but it certainly commanded the attention of the Australian sporting public while the Lions were over there. OK, and the cricket that England won 3-0? "I watched quite a bit of the Ashes cricket," he says, "but I always knew when the Aussies weren't going so well because my phone was going off all the time. To be honest, the whole summer was not particularly good for Australian sport. So it is best to move on to Exeter and his new role as captain. "It is a different challenge," he says. I've captained sides in the past but never for a season before. I captained the Waratahs on occasions when Phil Waugh was injured, and I captained the Wallabies in midweek as well. The challenge is to keep playing well while being captain, I suppose. That seems to be going well, as he has already scored as many tries this season - two - as he did last. Unfortunately the team have yet to hit the standards set in recent years and their two wins, over Wasps and London Irish, were squeaky affairs, 30-26 and 29-23. "I don't think we have been particularly happy with the way we have played," he says. We have not put together a solid 80-minute performance like we did at the back end of last year, but, saying that, being two out of three and not having played exactly the way you want, you'd take that. This afternoon they entertain champions Leicester, over whom they achieved a remarkable double two seasons ago. Leicester returned the compliment last season, even if the match at Sandy Park was only won 12-9. "For us it's a very big game," he says. It's only our second game at home, but the last time we played a top-four side at Northampton we probably were off the pace. Leicester have a few injuries but I suppose that's more for them to worry about than us. Regardless of who pulls on that jumper, they are an extremely good side and have been for such a long time. Indeed they are, including four Lions in Ben and Tom Youngs, Geoff Parling and Dan Cole today. Mumm will much prefer opposing them to watching them.