Rugby World Cup
Dean Mumm reflects on fatherhood after birth of first child before he captained Wallabies at World Cup
AAP
September 27, 2015
Australia 65-3 (Australia only)

A piercing phone call in the dead of the night triggered a mad dash for Dean Mumm on a life-changing day.

Mumm was sleeping peacefully at the Wallabies' training base in Bath when he was woken up to a frantic call from his heavily pregnant wife Sarah at 3.40am on Friday. She was in London, and had a short, sharp message to pass on.

"My water has broken and it's on," she said.

Those words set everything in motion, with Mumm immediately ringing Wallabies team manager Pat Molihan to source transport to London. Within 20 minutes, the pair were on a two-hour dash to Chelsea Westminster Hospital so he could witness the birth of his first child - a baby boy.

Australia thrash Uruguay
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"It was all about a bit of haze, early morning, but it turned into a bit of a frantic panic," Mumm reflected. "I got there smack bang in time, just in time for the delivery and to see him born."

Making the night all the more remarkable was the fact that Mumm went to sleep on Thursday night knowing he was going to become the 84th man to captain the Wallabies - an honour he fulfilled in the 65-3 victory against Uruguay at Villa Park on Sunday.

"You have to pinch yourself a little bit - just with the people who have done the job before - it's an incredible honour and one I am very proud to have been given," Mumm said of the captaincy duties he honoured on Sunday.

Mumm had to leave his wife and son to head back to Bath for the Wallabies' captain's run on Saturday, and he said that he was struggling to get his head clear on all that had happened. "It is all a bit of a blur," he said. "I haven't had time to reflect on it. But that's probably a good way to get through - just keep going. It is a huge game for us and it is an early game as well, so we have to get our heads around that as well."

© Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
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