Mark Stewart Bennett (born 3 February 1993) was a Scottish rugby union player who played for Edinburgh Rugby in the United Rugby Championship.

Rugby union career

Amateur career

Bennett started his career playing for Cumnock before moving to Ayr RFC and winning the Scottish Premiership in 2011.

Professional career

He also made his senior debut for

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

in 2011 and secured a move to French side ASM Clermont Auvergne. 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 level four times and played 21 times at under-20 level including appearances at the

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and 2013 IRB Junior World Championships. 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, notching tries against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He also had a potentially decisive try against

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

controversially disallowed, after team-mate Sam Hidalgo-Clyne 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' 2014–15 Pro12 title triumph, Bennett was selected in Scotland's 31-man squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. He scored two tries in the team's opening match victory over

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Bennett was nominated for "Breakthrough Player of the Year" by World Rugby 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 north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

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 Ayr RFC players Cumnock RFC players Edinburgh Rugby players Scottish expatriate rugby union players in France Glasgow Warriors players Great Britain international rugby sevens players Male rugby sevens players Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in rugby sevens Olympic rugby sevens players for 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 Olympic competitors Scottish rugby union players 2015 Rugby World Cup players Rugby sevens players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players for Scotland