Alan MacDonald described his Test debut as "bittersweet" after Scotland blew a 6-0 half-time lead against Argentina.

Edinburgh flanker MacDonald was handed his first cap by Robinson for yesterday's final autumn international at Murrayfield but was unable to prevent a second-half fightback from the Pumas, who triumphed 9-6.

It was a fourth straight victory in the Scottish capital for Argentina, who have not lost there since 1990, and denied their opponents a first clean sweep of November Test wins since 2002.

MacDonald, 24, said: "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.

"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 went into yesterday's game having won their opening two matches under Robinson against Fiji and Australia.

The latter victory - a first over the Wallabies for 27 years - was achieved despite their opponents completely bossing possession and territory.

Scotland turned that statistic on its head in the first half yesterday but failed to make the most of their dominance, with two Phil Godman penalties all they had to show for their efforts.

MacDonald said: "When you've got pressure, you need to turn it into points.

"We probably should've scored a few more in the first half with the amount of ball possession that we had."

The turning point arrived shortly after the break when Nathan Hines was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Gonzalo Tiesi.

Martin Rodriguez kicked the resulting penalty and another one while Scotland were down to 14 men before completing the comeback with a well-worked drop goal three minutes from time.

MacDonald refused to put the blame for his side's defeat on Hines' yellow card.

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

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

He added: "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."

MacDonald described the game as of one of the most demanding he had ever experienced.

"It was very physically tough," he said.

"They're another big, aggressive team for myself, playing openside, involved in a lot of the breakdowns. But it was something I really enjoyed. That's side of the game that I love."

MacDonald believes he will learn from the experience of facing the notoriously-ferocious Pumas in the contact area.

"Things like the breakdown for myself, it's something I quite enjoyed, the challenge."

MacDonald was drafted into the team after Robinson decided to rest John Barclay following his exertions against Fiji and Australia.

Commenting on the battle for the number seven jersey, MacDonald said: "I've got to go back to Edinburgh and try to get my place in the team for next Friday at Llanelli.

"As of tomorrow, I've just got to get my Edinburgh hat back on."

And MacDonald has no desire to be rested by his club following yesterday's physical examination.

He said: "That's what you do it for, to play the games."