 Macdonald made his test debut for the Springboks against the New Zealand All Blacks on 15 Augustus 1992 at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.He played in six test matches for the Springboks and also played in twelve tour matches, scoring five tries.MacDonald was voted as one of the five Young Players of the Year for 1990, along with Andrew Aitken, Jannie Claassens, Bernard Fourie and Theo van Rensburg