George Skivington (born 3 December 1982) is a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

coach and former player. He is the current head coach of

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

side

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

Early life and education

Skivington was born in Warrington, Cheshire. Skivington played junior rugby at

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

. He attended Wimbledon College and then moved to

John Fisher School The John Fisher School is a Roman Catholic voluntary-aided boys' faith school based at Peaks Hill, Purley, Croydon, Surrey, England. The school is located in and funded by the London Borough of Sutton. It occupies the former site of the 19th-ce ...

in Purley (also attended by fellow Ex-Wasp and England winger

Paul Sackey Paul Henry Sackey (born 8 November 1979) is a retired English rugby union footballer who played on the wing, most recently for Harlequins in the Aviva Premiership. He is an England international. He has also played for the England Saxons an ...

and Scotland prop Kyle Traynor.) before joining the Saracens Academy.

Playing career

Skivington played for

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

London Wasps Wasps Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union team. They last played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby until being suspended on 12 October 2022. On 17 October 2022 the club entered administration, resulting in r ...

(a successful period for the club, including being coached by

Warren Gatland Warren David Gatland (born 17 September 1963) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player who is currently in his second spell as the head coach of the Wales national team. As head coach of Wales from 2007 to 2019, he won four Six N ...

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

and

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emer ...

. His position was lock. He captained both London Irish and England Saxons.

Club career

Skivington joined

in 2001, In 2008 he signed a contract keeping him at the club until 2010. On 14 April 2010, it was announced that Skivington would be moving away from Wycombe to join Premiership rivals

at the end of the season. His final game for Leicester was the Premiership final at Twickenham against Harlequins. On 23 January 2012, it was announced that Skivington would be joining

from the start of the 2012/2013 season. He played 62 times for London Irish, and captained them, before retiring in June 2016 (age 33) due to an ongoing shoulder injury.

International career

Skivington was called into the

side that defeated Ireland A on 1 February 2008. He later represented

at the

2008 Churchill Cup The 2008 Churchill Cup took place between 7 June and 21 June 2008 in what was the sixth year of the Churchill Cup. Six rugby union teams took part: , England Saxons, Ireland A, Scotland A, the , and an Argentinian XV. Participation The entry of ...

. On 28 January 2010 he was named captain of the

side to play Ireland A at Bath's Recreation Ground on Sunday 31 January. He led his team to a 17–13 victory, and again against Italy A. Skivington also lead the Saxons throughout their victorious Churchill Cup campaign in summer 2010. Skivington was called up to England's

2011 Six Nations Championship The 2011 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2011 RBS 6 Nations due to sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 12th series of the Six Nations Championship, and the 117th edition of the international championship. The annual rugby uni ...

squad on 24 January 2011 as injury cover for Courtney Lawes.

Coaching career

Ealing Trailfinders

Whilst still playing, Skivington acted as assistant coach at Ealing Trailfinders from 2014 – 2016. Helping Ealing gain promotion from National 1 League in 2014/15 and a successful campaign in the championship in 2015/16.

London Irish

After his playing retirement from London Irish, Skivington was immediately appointed as Forwards Coach.

Samoa

Skivington was also an assistant coach for

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

in 2015 for their historic game against the All Blacks in Apia, Samoa on 8 July 2015 where they narrowly lost 25–16. Skivington was then part of the Samoan coaching team for the 2015 Pacific Nations Cup and the 2015 World Cup in England.

Gloucester

In June 2020, Skivington was announced as the new head coach of

Gloucester Rugby Gloucester Rugby are a professional rugby union club based in the West Country city of Gloucester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby, as well as in the European Rugby Champions Cup. The club was formed i ...

after the departure of both head coach

Johan Ackermann Johannes Nicolaas 'Johan' Ackermann (born 3 June 1970) is a South African professional rugby union coach and former player. He played as a Lock (rugby union), lock during his playing career between 1995 and 2007. He is currently the head coach at ...

and director of rugby David Humphreys. London Irish have announced publicly they believe the appointment breached protocol. The claim has been denied by Gloucester.

Coaching characteristics

Skivington has highlighted the importance of player character and overall group contribution, communication and the value of squad competition for places.

References

External links

Its Rugby ProfileWasps profileEngland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skivington, George 1982 births Living people English rugby union coaches English rugby union players Wasps RFC players Leicester Tigers players London Irish players Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Warrington