Jerry Sexton, brother of Ireland and Racing Metro star Jonathan, has been given a short-term trial at Exeter Chiefs.

Chiefs captain Dean Mumm is likely to be sidelined for longer than expected having undergone surgery to repair ligament damage in his shoulder, and coach Rob Baxter has decided to act swiftly, handing Sexton a short-term deal until November.

Sexton provides extra cover for the Aviva Premiership side and revealed he had spoken to his brother, who played against the Chiefs for Leinster during the 2012/13 Heineken Cup, about the set-up at Sandy Park.

"It is a big opportunity for me," Sexton told the Western Morning News. "I had a bit of a disappointment over in France a couple of weeks ago, I came back to Dublin and then I got the call from Exeter to come over, so I'm very excited.

"My brother said the coaches here are very good and that there are no superstars here. The club is all about hard work and that's what I aim to do and hopefully get a chance to play."

Baxter says Sexton, who represented French second tier team Auch last season, has the opportunity to earn a longer-term deal with the Chiefs should he impress.

"He's here on a trial until the end of November," Baxter said. "People are aware that Dean's picked up a knock and after having the operation he's going to be out for a little longer than we originally hoped. That's upped the workload on the players we have here.

"Looking at the pre-season games we have, the academy games we have in place, our A League and LV= Cup in the first three or four months of the season, we could be a little bit stretched in our resources.

"I had a bit of a look around and I felt we needed someone quickly, someone who was available and someone who had some experience of running a line-out at a certain level to give us some cover both in training and some of our games.

"It's a great opportunity for him to earn a longer-term contract and potentially play more than A League and provide more than training cover for us."