Australian Dean Mumm has been named the Exeter Chiefs captain for the forthcoming season.

The 29-year-old, who joined the Devon club last season from Super Rugby side the Waratahs, will take over the duties from fellow forward Tom Hayes. Mumm admits it is quite a task to take on following the impressive reign of Hayes, but the former Wallabies international is excited by the challenge.

"They're big shoes to fill aren't they?" said Mumm when asked about his new role. "Tom has quite a legacy here at the club because his time as captain has been one of real change and real success. I say full credit to him for what he's achieved and yes it is a big job to try and fill his shoes.

"That said, you can't really approach it that way, you have to put you own mark on things. Tom has done an excellent job for us; he's a real strong leader still within the squad and I suppose I'm lucky to be the guy that gets to run out first onto the field.

"If you look around the team there are so many guys capable of leading their respective areas, so if everybody looks after their own individual areas, it certainly makes it a whole lot easier for the person named as captain to look after what he has to look after. For me, though, I'm very honoured to have been given the captaincy and I'm very excited about the opportunity."

In related news, Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter has confirmed he is close to securing a deal to bring New Zealander Romana Graham to Sandy Park. "With Tommy [Hayes] still in the end stages of his rehab now, but still not at 100 per cent, and James Hanks breaking his collarbone again we we're looking a little thin on the ground," said Baxter. "We've made the decision to strengthen our resources there and so we've gone back to a guy we've looked at before and we quite liked.

"Since that time we've done a bit more work on him and we're lucky that Waikato are prepared to release him from his ITM contract and he's going to come over here on a year's contract."