His last minute try which bedazzled France, skipping past three helpless French defenders, took him to the magical 50-try mark for Wales. It also ensured his 19th try in the RBS 6 Nations championship took him past the great Gareth Edwards as the leading Welsh try scorer in the championship’s history.
But the Ospreys star’s personal achievements proved bittersweet as he was bitterly disappointed Wales ran out of time in their 20-26 defeat to Grand Slam favourites, France at the Millennium Stadium.
“Tonight was about beating France, anything else was a bonus,” he said. “It was a bit of de ja vu in the way we have started all three games at the moment which is very frustrating.
“Sometimes you get punished for trying to play rugby, two interceptions, one my fault, is a kick in the teeth really but you have got to commend the way the guys came back in the second half. It was a massive effort, and who knows if they had kicked it back to us at the end we might have scored again.”
France had a handsome 20-0 lead at the break but Wales gifted them two tries with two interceptions.
“Perhaps we shouldn’t throw them intercept tries – that didn’t help but we are a nation that tries and plays rugby,” he reflected.
“We started positive and tried to play some rugby unfortunately two interception tries takes the wind out of your sails and France started really well to be fair to them. They defended very well and made it very difficult for us and sometimes we try and play too much but that’s the way we enjoy it.”