Scotland 6 Argentina 9: ALAN MacDONALD described his Test debut as "bittersweet" after Scotland blew a 6-0 half-time lead against Argentina to end Andy Robinson's 100 per cent record in charge.
Edinburgh flanker MacDonald was handed his first cap by Robinson for Saturday’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.”
Scotland failed to make the most of their first-half dominance, with two Phil Godman penalties all they had to show for their efforts.
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.
SCOTLAND: R Lamont (Paterson 49), S Lamont, Cairns (De Luca 55), Grove, Evans, Godman, Cusiter (Rory Lawson 73), Jacobsen (Traynor 64), Ford (Hall 64), Low, Hines (White 59), Kellock, Strokosch (Vernon 72), MacDonald, Beattie.
ARGENTINA: Agulla, Borges, Tiesi, Rodriguez, Aramburu (San Martin 72), Fernandez, Lalanne (Figuerola 78), Ayerza, Basualdo (Creevy 39), Scelzo (Roncero 54), Carizza, Albacete, Campos, Abadie (Leonardi 88), Fernandez Lobbe. Replacements not used: Lozada, Urdapilleta.
Referee: A Lewis(Ireland).
