Rugby World Cup 2015: Why Dean Mumm gave up the easy life to fulfil his Wallabies cup dream

WALLABIES lock Dean Mumm is far too modest a man to entertain comparisons with Jarryd Hayne ... but there are definitely similar themes in their stories.

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​BEFORE Jarryd Hayne had even donned his first helmet, San Francisco coach Jim Tomsula ​explained a big reason​ why​ he’d ​​signed ​him​ was because of what he’d walked away from​ in Australia​. A healthy pay che​que​, adulation, comfort.

“That hits me. That’s something different about who you are and your make up,” Tomsula said.

As far as chasing the dream went for Hayne, making that first big sacrifice was one of the most significant steps in achieving it.

Wallabies lock Dean Mumm is far too modest a man to entertain comparisons with Jarryd Hayne but there are definitely similar themes in their stories.

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On the eve of the World Cup, Mumm is one of the more inspiring selection stories in a squad brimming to the gills with left-field calls by coach Michael Cheika.

Mumm is making himself at home again back in the UK with the Wallabies.

Being in Bath this week with the Wallabies has served to highlight just how far Mumm has come in a short space of time, after he decided earlier this year to quit a successful career in the English premiership and return home to try and crack the World Cup squad.

Mumm spent three years playing for Exeter in nearby Devon — only 90 minutes drive west from Bath — and had established himself as not only one of the best locks in the competition, but one of the most respected captains as well.

A comfortable, well-paid future lay ahead but Mumm had a feeling in his gut that wouldn’t go away. The 31-year-old who left Australia in 2012 wanted to play for the Wallabies again, and he wanted to do it at the World Cup.

“We had a plan to stay but but I guess I came to a realisation that I didn’t have that much longer playing, and something I really did miss was playing for the Wallabies,” Mumm told the Daily Telegraph.

“I spoke to my wife and my brother about it and the only opportunity I had to play in a World Cup would be this one.

“I feel like I am a better player now after being at Exeter than when I first came over here (in 2012).

“When you finish your career you don’t want to have regrets so even if I didn’t make it, I had to give myself the chance.”

So in May this year Mumm exercised a get-out option in his contract, signed a one-year deal with the Waratahs and booked a plane ticket home.

There were no guarantees from anyone, least of all Michael Cheika.

But the first opportunity in a string of auditions came when his plane ticket was changed by the Tahs so he could meet them in Africa and start playing.

Mumm did well and continued to impress with each opportunity. Strong in contact and at set-piece, and with set-piece prowess well-honed by three years in England, Mumm made Cheika’s wider World Cup squads.

Then, like Hayne, he kept surviving the cuts.

The opportunity to return to the Wallabies in the Rugby Championship was well taken; he scored a try with his first touch against Argentina.

Were it not for a courageous call, Mumm may well have been visiting mates in the Wallabies in Bath this week but instead he’s one of them.

“It is nice being back, but it is a little bit weird. It almost feels like a life away,” Mumm said.

“Nothing was guaranteed, you go from squad to squad, so you had to very much live in that moment.

“Playing for the Chiefs was something I thoroughly loved while I was here but once I played that last game in May I moved onto a different set of goals, and I have gone okay but I still have a lot to achieve on this front as well.”

There was never going to be a ticker-tape “welcome back” parade — Exeter and Bath are fierce rivals and Australia are England’s rivals in the pool of death — but Mumm has enjoyed the return.

The sacrifice in leaving wasn’t just about pay cheques and comfort either.

Mumm’s pregnant wife Sarah has stayed in London for work since he returned home chasing his dream. Their baby is due next month.

“It wasn’t easy. My wife has been here the whole time so I haven’t seen her for 16 or 17 weeks, and there are things that made the decision hard,” he said.

“But once you are into it you only have one option and that’s giving it a good go and making it.”

“Not having regrets is how this all started and being here, it is still the same thing.

“We are here with a goal. We want to enjoy the World Cup but we are here to win it. No-one in the squad is shy about that. For me, just being here isn’t really an achievement at all.”

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Originally published as Rugby World Cup 2015: Why Dean Mumm gave up the easy life to fulfil his Wallabies cup dream