The 25-year-old hooker was called into the match-day 23 for Scotland’s second RBS 6 Nations clash against Italy after Glasgow Warriors teammate Dougie Hall was ruled out with a knee injury.

However, starting on the bench, MacArthur wasn’t called upon as Scotland defeated the Azzurri 34-10 for their first win in a run of three successive games at Murrayfield.

Of the eight replacements only MacArthur and Duncan Weir failed to feature against Italy as Tim Visser, Matt Scott, Stuart Hogg and Sean Lamont scored tries in the victory.

MacArthur admits he wasn’t expecting to feature but that doesn’t mean he’s about to give up hope of doing so in the future, adamant if pushes hard enough Johnson will cave.

“Last weekend was a great experience, to start with. To be involved with the national team, to get my first chance on the bench and to experience the whole atmosphere of winning at Murrayfield was great,” said MacArthur.

“I wasn't really expecting to get on. Fordy [Ross Ford] was going really well and the team was going well. Obviously, I wanted to get on and I will keep pushing and keep training hard to get my chance, but that is just the way I will have to look at it.

“It was an experience that means I will not be coming in from the cold to international rugby. I understand what is going on, the pressures and the noise that are part of an international game. As Scott Johnson says, caps are not going to be given away easily.

“Yes, you want the cap but you want to influence the game when you get your chance. The way I look at it is that, hopefully, I will play this week and impress enough that I might get a chance at some other point.”