The Perpignan lock was not only on the losing side at the Millennium Stadium but also received a first-half yellow card for a swinging arm on Wales fullback Lee Byrne. And on what was supposed to be a day of personal honour for Hines, his teammates slumped to their second successive defeat of the campaign.
Hines said: “Losing doesn’t completely spoil the day but when I look back at winning my 50th cap, I will remember a bad performance.
“It was surprising we were in the match for so long because we were so poor. We did all the hard work and then made elementary errors which relieved the pressure. And if you do that against sides like Wales, you will get punished and in the final 20 minutes they made us pay.
“But how do you stop people dropping the ball? It’s really disheartening because we’re trying hard but not getting the results. Now we have to look at ourselves and it’s one of the hardest things to do in sport. We have to look into our teammates eyes and figure out where we’re going wrong.”
Despite Hines’s gloomy day in Cardiff, the former Edinburgh second-row paid tribute to Wales’s match-winner Shane Williams.
Hines said: “Shane is a dangerous runner and his tries were well-taken, especially the second one. They play attractive rugby and that’s what Welsh rugby is all about.”
