William John Skinner (born 8 February 1984 in

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

) is an English former rugby union player who played

openside flanker Flanker is a position in the sport of rugby union. Each team of 15 players includes two flankers, who play in the forwards, and are generally classified as either blindside or openside flankers, numbers 6 and 7 respectively. The name comes fr ...

for

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 Harlequins. He began his rugby career at

Bedford School :''Bedford School is not to be confused with Bedford Girls' School, Bedford High School, Bedford Modern School, Old Bedford School in Bedford, Texas or Bedford Academy in Bedford, Nova Scotia.'' Bedford School is a public school (English indep ...

before representing England at U-16, U-18 and U-21 level. He came through the

youth setup where many drew comparison between the small, blond, pacy openside and his mentor, Tigers legend Neil Back. Long-term injury and lack of versatility, however, saw him leave Tigers in the summer of 2006 to move to Quins where he linked up with former Tigers' Director of Rugby and back row legend Dean Richards. Skinner represented the England Sevens team at Brisbane in early

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

. Skinner represented England Saxons at the

2007 Churchill Cup The 2007 Churchill Cup was held from May 18 to June 2, 2007. It was the fifth year of the Churchill Cup. Six rugby union teams took part: Canada, England Saxons, Ireland A, New Zealand Māori, Scotland A, and the USA. Format The teams were s ...

. Skinner was called into the England Saxons side that defeated Ireland A on 1 February 2008. He captained the England Saxons to victory 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 ...

. Injury forced his retirement in 2013.

References

External links

England profileHarlequins profileLeicester profile
1984 births Living people English rugby union players Leicester Tigers players Harlequin F.C. players Rugby union flankers People educated at Bedford School Rugby union players from Northampton {{England-rugbyunion-bio-stub