Skinner, the former Otago and All Black prop, died yesterday morning in Auckland, aged 86.
Skinner played 47 games for Otago in 1947-54 and 63 matches for the All Blacks, including 20 tests in 1949-54 and 1956.
He captained the All Blacks in 1952.
He was part of the Otago side which held the Ranfurly Shield in 1947-50 and also became part of New Zealand rugby folklore for his part in the 1956 defeat of the Springboks.
Skinner was recalled to the All Black front row for the final two tests of that epic series despite earlier announcing his retirement.
The All Black forward pack had struggled to combat the front row of the Springboks but Skinner came into the third test and sorted out the Springboks' tactics, swapping sides in the front row during the game.
It was suggested he used ''enforcer'' tactics to get his way but Skinner, a former New Zealand amateur heavyweight boxing champion, always downplayed his role.
That was the way of the man.
Former Otago team-mate Bert Haig remembered Skinner yesterday as a humble person, who just loved the game.
''He was very modest and never went on about his abilities.
''Everyone went on about his game against the Springboks and how he sorted out their props, going on to the other side, but he never went on about that,'' Haig said.
''He was always very fair and, to me, he epitomises what a top sportsman should be like. He was from a family of top sportsmen.''
Haig said Skinner was a tough player who never backed down to the opposition, Skinner, who was educated at St Kevin's College in Oamaru, played club rugby for Pirates in Dunedin, and had started out as a lock before moving into the front row when the locking berths in the Otago team were covered.
A grocer in Dunedin, he moved to Counties in 1955 and then shifted to Auckland after he finally retired from rugby in the late 1950s.
He was a club coach and president of the Barbarians club in 1988-90.
