Rugby: MacDonald just lovin' it in thick of the action

Published on Tuesday 1 December 2009 08:50

ALAN MACDONALD has sent a "count me in" message to Edinburgh Rugby's coaches as the team prepares to bring its Magners Celtic League bid out of cold storage on Friday with a trip to Llanelli Scarlets.

As he takes stock of a memorable debut cap for Scotland against Argentina at the end of the Autumn Test series, the 24-year-old flanker makes it clear he expects it to be business as usual as the Scotland players return to their clubs. But he'll be looking to put the lessons he learned on the international stage into effect as quickly as possible.

Rotation policies take into account demands placed on individuals and the mental and physical exertions of a first cap are not to be underestimated.

But MacDonald insisted: "It's a big game for Edinburgh at Llanelli and I'll be up for that after a day or so chilling out and thinking about what has happened.

"It takes a while to sink in but I'll be ready by Friday."

MacDonald admitted that there were the usual uncertainties ahead of what was easily a career high even for a player who was voted Scotland's top under-21 of 2006 and captured the Edinburgh Player of the Year award in the 2008-09 season.

"There's always a worry going into an international that you might fall ill at the last minute or get injured in the warm up.

"I just had to ignore that or else I would be worrying about everything."

Edinburgh now have 17 Scotland internationalists on their books including another Autumn debutant, Kyle Traynor, as they attempt to close the three-point gap which leaders Leinster hold at the top of the table.

Reflecting on his journey to cap status, MacDonald said: "It was great to run out at Murrayfield, a privilege but the result was not as good as we would have wanted.

"It was a lot different to playing for Edinburgh.

"There was a bigger crowd and atmosphere at the higher level and that is something that leaves you wanting more.

"Getting my first touch of the ball early was good and it came after Sean Lamont popped up a pass for me to run on to.

"Overall, though, it was the most physicality I've ever experienced and, when I went down on a ball towards the end of the first half while Rory Lamont was receiving treatment, I got a fair old whack."

They say a first cap passes in a blur for many players but MacDonald insisted: "The first 20 minutes were pretty quick when Scotland were in the ascendancy and had a lot of possession.

"That was the period when we looked particularly dangerous without converting the pressure into points but my main memory is of Argentina being quite physical, rather than the pace of the match."

Many pundits reckoned the key moment was the sin-binning of Nathan Hines after 49 minutes for an allegedly dangerous tackle.

But 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.

"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."

MacDonald, who summed up his first cap experience as "bitter-sweet", believes he will learn from the experience of encountering the robust Pumas in the contact area.

"Things like the breakdown, for myself, it's something I quite enjoyed, the challenge," he said ahead of a match where competition will again be tough.

Not only are Scarlets looking to bounce back from a defeat at Connacht last time out in the Celtic League but likely to be restored to the ranks is MacDonald's opposite number Dafydd Jones, a wily 30-year-old who took his Welsh cap tally to 42 against New Zealand in the recent Autumn Tests.