MacDonald's 'bittersweet' debut

Tough tackler: MacDonald gets stuck in against Argentina

It is a bittersweet moment. Obviously, it's a great honour to get my first cap but I'm just bitterly disappointed that we couldn't get the win.

Alan MacDonald
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Alan MacDonald conceded his Scotland debut against Argentina on Saturday had given rise to mixed emotions.

The Edinburgh flanker was handed his first cap by head coach Andy Robinson at Murrayfield but could not prevent the Pumas claiming a 9-6 victory.

The result was Robinson's first defeat in charge following wins over Fiji and Australia in the opening two autumn internationals.

"It is a bittersweet moment," MacDonald said. "Obviously, it's a great honour to get my first cap but I'm just bitterly disappointed that we couldn't get the win.

"The two halves, I thought, were very contrasting. The first half, we had a bit of possession and were attacking a lot.

"Maybe we should've put some more points on the board. Second half, we were having to dig a little bit more."

Scotland led 6-0 courtesy of two Phil Godman penalties after dominating the first half but the match turned when Nathan Hines was sent to the sin-bin the 50th minute.

Hines was punished for a dangerous tackle on Gonzalo Tiesi and, with the Scotland lock off the field, Martin Rodriguez landed two penalties to bring Argentina level at 6-6.

Prepared

That set up a thrilling finale and it was Rodriguez who had the last word with a drop-goal in the 78th minute.

"The sin-bin is something you're used to and you have to just prepare for them like any other eventuality," added MacDonald.

"We've all been involved when people have been sin-binned and know what we need to do.

"Second half, we had to do a lot more defending than we did in the first half.

"We got a lot of ball in the first half to attack with and, second half, they had a bit more of the possession.

"We didn't get our lineout functioning as well as we would've liked."