Glasgow give Mark Bennett another chance to show worth Strictly speaking, it is not the 20-year-old's debut for the club as Bennett made a solitary appearance for Glasgow against Leinster in May 2011 in a meaningless end-of-season match. At the time, former coach Sean Lineen was trying to persuade Bennett to sign for the side, but the effort was unsuccessful as he accepted an offer from French giants Clermont Auvergne soon afterwards. Bennett is still a Clermont player, but after an initial season disrupted by a serious knee injury he returned to Glasgow on loan a few months ago. Since then, he has been farmed out to Stirling County, where he has had a series of impressive outings for the RBS Premiership side, and he proved his class again last weekend with a man-of-the-match display for Scotland Under-20 against their Italy counterparts. Glasgow head coach Gregor Townsend said: "Mark has had to wait a little while to make his first appearance since arriving in November but the opportunities have been limited so it's great that he can start in Newport on Friday and get a chance to show what he can do. I've been impressed by his attitude since he got here and he knows it was simply a case of him working hard to improve in every training session and earn his starting place. I've watched him closely at training and when playing for Stirling County and I believe he is in top form. Glasgow's bonus-point victory over Zebre in Italy last weekend strengthened their hold on second place in the RaboDirect PRO12 table. The Scotstoun club are now just seven points behind leaders Ulster, who were beaten at home by Ospreys in their last outing. Townsend has been able to strengthen his side by calling on hooker Pat MacArthur and fly-half Duncan Weir, who were unused replacements in Scotland's Six Nations win over Italy last Saturday. Canadian winger DTH Van der Merwe also returns to the side after being absent with a head injury for the past few weeks. Townsend said: "There have been numerous demands made of this squad, particularly around the internationals but I'm proud of the strength of the squad and the ability we have to bounce back from setbacks and score tries."