Mark Stewart Bennett (born 3 February 1993) is a Scottish

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 ...

footballer who plays as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for

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 play ...

in the

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 ...

Rugby union career

Amateur career

Bennett started his career playing for Cumnock before moving to

Ayr RFC Ayr Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club. Its professional men's side currently plays as Ayrshire Bulls in the Super 6 competition; and its women's side play in the . The club also runs a "Club XV" which competes in the Tennent's Nationa ...

and winning the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

in 2011.

Professional career

He also made his senior debut for

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

in 2011 and secured a move to French side

ASM Clermont Auvergne Association Sportive Montferrandaise Clermont Auvergne () is a French rugby union club from Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes that currently competes in Top 14, the top level of the French league system. Clermont are two times French ...

. A serious knee injury disrupted his season, and he returned to

in 2012 to join the Warriors on loan with the move being made permanent in 2013. On 14 February 2017, Edinburgh Rugby announced that they had signed him on a three-year deal and that he would begin playing for them from the summer.

International career

Bennett has represented Scotland at

Under 18 ''Under Eighteen'' is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Archie Mayo and starring Marian Marsh, Anita Page, Regis Toomey, and Warren William. It is based on the short story "Sky Life" by Frank Mitchell Dazey and Agnes Chri ...

level four times and played 21 times at under-20 level including appearances at the

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2013 IRB Junior World Championship The 2013 IRB Junior World Championship was the sixth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in France by rugby's governing body, the IRB. A total of twelve nations played in the tournament ...

s. Bennett was named in Vern Cotter's first ever squad for Scotland's 2014 summer tour, but failed to play in any of the four games. He was reselected in Scotland's squad for the 2014 Autumn Internationals, making his debut in Scotland's 41–31 victory over Argentina on 8 November 2014. After establishing himself in the squad, Bennett played in all five of Scotland's matches in the

2015 Six Nations Championship The 2015 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2015 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 16th series of the Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union tournament. It was contested b ...

, notching tries against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He also had a potentially decisive try 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 ...

controversially disallowed, after team-mate

Sam Hidalgo-Clyne Samuel Hidalgo-Clyne (born 4 August 1993) is a Scottish rugby union player who plays for Benetton Rugby in United Rugby Championship. His primary position is as a scrum-half. Early life Born in Jayena, Granada, Spain, Hidalgo-Clyne moved to ...

was judged to have knocked-on when fouled near the try line. After recovering from an injury which ruled him out of the run-in to

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

' 2014–15 Pro12 title triumph, Bennett was selected in

Scotland's 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 ...

31-man squad for the

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

. He scored two tries in the team's opening match victory over

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Bennett was nominated for "Breakthrough Player of the Year" by

World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

after the tournament. During the 2022 Six Nations Championship, Bennet was called up to the international squad and made his international return as a replacement in the loss to France at BT Murrayfield. He represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

at the 2016 Summer Olympics where the team won silver after losing the gold medal match to Fiji.

International tries

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Mark 1993 births Living people ASM Clermont Auvergne players Ayr RFC players Cumnock RFC players Edinburgh Rugby players Expatriate rugby union players in France Glasgow Warriors players Great Britain national rugby sevens team players Male rugby sevens players Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in rugby sevens Olympic rugby sevens players of Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain People from Cumnock Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Rugby union centres Rugby union players from Irvine, North Ayrshire Scotland international rugby sevens players Scotland international rugby union players Scottish expatriate rugby union players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in France Scottish Olympic medallists Scottish rugby union players