Dean Mumm says the Wallabies can’t get caught up in the media circus as they prepare for England.
England coach Eddie Jones has already begun throwing out the barbs towards the Waallabies after his side’s win over Argentina, but Mumm said they wouldn’t let Jones distract them
“Unless you told me, I wouldn't have been aware of it,” Mumm said.
“I don't read a lot of the papers, so I'm sure Eddie's up to his regular tricks but I will try not to make myself aware of it, because it's kind of irrelevant to what we want to do next week.
“We're not going out there and playing Eddie Jones, we're going out there and playing England and there's 23 of them willing to stop us so we've got a big job on our hands to get that done.”
It was less than six months ago that the Wallabies conceded a series whitewash to England in Australia and while Mumm said the pain was still there, it wouldn’t be the main driver in their final week of 2016.
“I think you can't help but be a little bit disappointed in the way June panned out, three-nil series losses hurt and it actually wasn't that long ago but we won't be focusing on that as a motivating factor, we'll be focusing on what we can do on the training pitch come next week and what we can do to put ourselves in the best best position to win the match,” he said.
“If you look backwards, then you end up tripping over, I suppose. So, we're going to look forward to what we can do and get excited about what's a tremendous match.” - Dean Mumm
While their June pain won’t be consuming them, Mumm said the Wallabies had certainly come a long way since that series.
“Structurally we're a little bit different in the way we play,” he said.
“That's the first thing - I think our set piece has come a reasonable way since the start of the year.
“I think there's a general level of improvement in skill and there's an element of resilience perhaps that we didn't have at the start of the year. So I think there's a fair bit and I'm sure they've been looking at it for a while, I'm sure they'll identify a few things.”
Mumm had a mixed night against Ireland, yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle on Irish tighthead Tadhg Furlong but performing well in the set piece.
The utility forward took responsibility for the dangerous tackle and even when the initial decision was given was quick to apologise.
A Jekyll and Hyde performance from the Wallabies put them on the back foot early and Mumm said their start wasn’t ideal but was pleased with the mentality of the side late.
“It's hard to say that the start wasn't a factor towards that but obviously we got back to a lead and I think that was due to the belief that we have in what we can do as a team." - Dean Mumm
“On that sense it was good to see there was an element of resilience involved to get back but you've got to keep going, when you get that momentum you've got to keep going.
“When you play excellent teams like Ireland, particularly away from home, to give them an advantage with the crowd behind them, it makes it very, very hard for yourself.
“If we want to be the great team we're striving to be, we're going to have to rectify that.”
