Sam Skinner eager to make some new World Cup memories with Scotland

Sam Skinner vividly remembers waking up in the middle of the night as an eight-year-old down south to watch Scotland playing Fiji in the 2003 World Cup on television – and now he wants to make his own memories at the showpiece event 16 years later.
Sam Skinner takes the ball into contact with Gary Graham during a Scotland squad training session at Murrayfield. Picture: SNS/SRUSam Skinner takes the ball into contact with Gary Graham during a Scotland squad training session at Murrayfield. Picture: SNS/SRU
Sam Skinner takes the ball into contact with Gary Graham during a Scotland squad training session at Murrayfield. Picture: SNS/SRU

This week the extended 44-man Scottish squad have been back in training at Oriam on the outskirts of Edinburgh following a two-week break.

And yesterday they were on the back pitches at BT Murrayfield going through their paces and showing off the new kit to supporters young and old at an open training session.

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The group are now into their second block of training ahead of matches home and away against France and Georgia in August and early September. During that run of games head coach Gregor Townsend will select the 31-man squad that will head to the World Cup in Japan come September.

And 24-year-old Exeter Chiefs man Skinner certainly has a strong chance of making the cut given that he can cover second and back-row and is a ferocious tackler.

If he does make it into the travelling party, he will always remember the Fiji pool match from 2003.

Then Scotland prop Tom Smith scored two minutes from time to book his side’s place in the quarter-finals with a 22-20 triumph.

The Scots had looked on course to miss out on the knockout stages for the first time in their history when a Nicky Little penalty put the Pacific Islanders 20-15 clear.

However, with the Fijians reduced to 14 men following the sin-binning of Api Naevo, Smith was bundled over by his forwards and Chris Paterson converted.

“I remember watching Scotland play Fiji in the 2003 World Cup and we just won,” Skinner, whose father is a fervent Scot, said.

“It was in the early hours of the morning back here and we scored a maul try in the corner and Chris Paterson slotted the goal for us to go through.

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“That was my earliest World Cup memory and a pretty cool moment.”

A World Cup training camp can be a long and gruelling experience, but Skinner is loving testing himself over a tough summer.

“It’s all a new experience for me and one I’m definitely enjoying. We’ve had the off-season now and we’re all rested up,” he stated.

“Camp’s been good fun and it’s good to be back. I had a couple of extra weeks off at the start just because my season finished later with Exeter.

“After seeing the boys in Inverness for a couple of days I then joined them in the Portugal camp and will be here for the next few weeks.

“I think we’re in a good place. We have a lot of depth. We were a bit injury-hit during the Six Nations, but now you look around the squad and we’ve got almost three excellent sides who could play at any point in a World Cup.

“So there’s a lot of competition and we feel like we’re in a really healthy spot right now.

“Pushing for the final 31 is definitely a factor, but ultimately we’re all pushing in the same direction at the moment.

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“We want Scotland to do as well as possible in the World Cup and we want to help each other. So that’s the main focus right now.”

Skinner touched on the competition for places and certainly in the second and back-row Townsend and forwards coach Danny Wilson will have plenty of positive headaches when they sit down to pick the final squad.

“Competition drives competition and it drives standards,” Skinner, who has five full caps, said.

“In terms of my position, I think it’s more a case of me being a second-row who can play in the back-row, rather than the other way round.

“Having said that, I’ve probably played more in the back-row for Scotland so far, but I’m just happy to play wherever they pick me.

“Obviously I want to nail down one spot and I would prefer that to be in the second-row. It has been a really good season for me to develop in terms of my role in the Exeter squad. I have become a more confident and solid first-team player now and that has helped me with Scotland.”