Samuel George Skinner (born 31 January 1995) is a professional

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 ...

player who plays as a

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

for

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

club

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. Born in England, he represents

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

at international level after qualifying on ancestry grounds.

Early life

Skinner's father comes from

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...

. Skinner studied at the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...

, achieving a first in business and economics, and captaining the University side to the 2016

BUCS British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) is the governing body for higher education sport in the United Kingdom. BUCS was formed in June 2008 following a merger of British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) and University College Sport ...

Championship.

Club career

After a late growth spurt, Skinner started his career with Taunton Titans. He played ten matches in National League Two South during the 2014-15 season. He was then offered an academy deal by

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

, which he juggled with studying for his degree. This was later upgraded to a three year pro deal. “I trained and played for Exeter Chiefs alongside the university team aptaining Exeter to the BUCS Championship in 2016and studied full-time,” explained Skinner. “They he Chiefswere brilliant. If I needed a week off for exams they were excellent at giving me that time. I was a late developer, I signed for Exeter at 90kg so for a year they allowed me to develop, to put on another 5-10kg and get my size up to Premiership and international level.” On 14 November 2014, Skinner made his first-team debut in the LV Cup against

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 in ...

before making his Premiership debut against

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

. He scored his first top try for the Chiefs in a 36-14 home win over

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

in February 2017 before starting his first game against

Wasps RFC 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 ...

in September 2017. His debut was called the ‘performance of the weekend’ in

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

. In May 2018, Skinner was a second-half replacement for Mitch Lees as Exeter lost to

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 ...

in the Premiership Grand Final at

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team plays ...

. He was described as one of Exeter's ‘standout players this season’. Skinner won two Premierships with Exeter, and the Champions Cup in the double-winning year of 2020, before switching to

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh pl ...

in 2022.

International career

While with Taunton he was picked up by the

Scottish Exiles Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English * Scottish national identity, the Scottish id ...

programme. In June 2015, Skinner scored a try for the England Under-20 team against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in the pool stage of the 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship. Skinner came off the bench for the last five minutes in the final as England finished runners up to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Qualifying through this father, in October 2018 Skinner was called up to the senior

squad for the Autumn Internationals. On 10 November 2018 he was given his

international debut, starting at

against

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium (known as BT Murrayfield Stadium for sponsorship reasons, or popularly as Murrayfield) is a Rugby stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has a seating capacity of 67,144 making it the largest sta ...

. Skinner received the Man of the Match award; making 7 tackles and 44 metres in the game. A hamstring injury prevented Skinner contending for a world cup place. In 2023 Skinner was selected in Scotland's 33 player squad for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.

References

External links

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profile
at Exeter Chiefs {{DEFAULTSORT:Skinner, Sam 1995 births Living people Alumni of the University of Exeter English people of Scottish descent Exeter Chiefs players People educated at Torquay Boys' Grammar School Rugby union locks Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Exeter Scotland international rugby union players Scottish Exiles (rugby union) players Scottish rugby union players Edinburgh Rugby players